


Just for One Night

by Thundersnow (pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: ;), Angst with a Happy Ending, ColdFlash Big Bang 2020, Enemies to Lovers, Humour, Idiots in Love, M/M, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Secret Relationship, because they're idiots, canon compliant up to Rogue Air, they think they're just fuck buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 55,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel/pseuds/Thundersnow
Summary: Len gets his first real glimpse at who Barry Allen actually is beneath that cowl and is surprised to find that he likes what he sees. However, Barry is so on-edge at the thought of his upcoming fight with the Reverse Flash that Len thinks he could do with some good, no-strings-attached, stress release. The thing is, Barry doesn’t really do ‘no-strings-attached’, and Len comes to realise that – when it comes to Barry Allen – perhaps he doesn’t do that anymore either.Set during and after Rogue Air.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 71
Kudos: 248
Collections: Coldflash Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonymistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonymistress/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the second of my Coldflash Bang fics! I hope you enjoy it :)  
> [The beautiful artwork](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27858337) for this fic is by moonymistress (tumblr: [meetmelastfriday](https://meetmelastfriday.tumblr.com/)). Go tell them how amazing they are!

The first time that Leonard Snart and Barry Allen slept together was entirely unplanned.

Now, Len wasn’t usually the type of man to make any move without having thoroughly thought it through first. However, the Flash always did have a way of changing the game on him so, in hindsight, Len shouldn’t have been surprised.

It all started with one innocent little deal…

“I’ve deleted everything that the CCPD, ARGUS, and the FBI had on you, and sent a virus to erase every digital record of you online,” Barry said as he dropped the last box onto the pile. “And this is every single piece of physical evidence the police had.” Len smiled wide and deliberate. It seemed to have the desired effect of annoying poor Barry, but that was precisely where the fun lay in this whole thing.

Len didn’t actually need his files destroyed. He had every faith in his own ability to keep dodging the law and so who cared how much evidence they had against him? None of that mattered in the long run.

But what did matter – matter to Len, at least – was this look in Barry’s eyes. It wasn’t a look of defeat... Len knew that the Scarlet Speedster didn’t give up that easily. No, it was more of a begrudging acceptance. Barry hated working with Len, but he had accepted his fate.

And that was where the ‘fun’ part came in. Getting someone so strong to bend to Len’s will. Riling the Flash up and knowing that Barry would just have to either put up with it or leave because Len was the one who held all the cards here. It was endlessly entertaining.

“Good job,” Len praised, enjoying the strong downwards tilt to Barry’s lips. Len shot the boxes of evidence with his cold gun and watched the entire mound ice over. Barry just sighed as though Len’s dramatics frustrated him. Perhaps they did. Barry hadn’t ever seemed to mind in the past, but he’d also never before been so desperate as to come to Len for his help. The kid was clearly in one hell of a bind and probably not in the mood to deal with Len’s theatricality today.

That was a shame. Not that Len was going to stop any time soon, but because this was supposed to be the moment that Lisa made her entrance. But unfortunately, his darling sister was in Keystone this week, and couldn’t drop her plans to come help Captain Cold piss off the Flash. So, now Len was left to imagine how Barry might have reacted to Lisa’s sudden appearance instead of experiencing it first-hand.

Such a pity.

However, if one good thing came out of his sister’s absence, it was that Len got to destroy the boxes himself rather than letting Lisa do the honours. And, despite not _needing_ to get rid of the evidence, icing it over had felt very cathartic: like a new beginning. Len was no longer going to be held back by his past mistakes because, for all intents and purposes, none of them existed. And that felt good.

After admiring his handiwork for a while, Len turned to face Barry.

“Any regrets?” he asked, and Barry sighed so Len took that as a maybe.

“We’ve got five and a half hours and counting before the accelerator turns online,” Barry said, avoiding the question. “And we need the metas out of there long before then, so we should probably get a move on.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re so impatient,” Len said, and Barry rolled his eyes.

“It’s not like we’re heading out for dinner, Snart. People’s lives are at stake here.”

Len grinned, enjoying Barry’s increased frustration.

“Shame, I’m in the mood for Italian food,” he drawled. “Maybe we can do that next time.”

“Sure, it’s a date,” Barry muttered sarcastically, and Len replied with a wink. After that, he turned to leave the mess of boxes in the alleyway, knowing that they were as good as destroyed – at least until they thawed back out, which would probably take a few days and would leave everything inside ruined anyway – and moved towards his motorbike. Barry watched him every step of the way as Len slung his leg over the seat and got comfortable. Finally, he turned his smirk back to Barry.

“Fancy a ride?” he offered. For a second there, it looked as though Barry wanted to say yes, which was certainly interesting. But then Barry seemed to shake himself out of it, and his look of temptation turned into a glare. Whether that was aimed at Len or Barry himself, he couldn’t actually say, but the answer was clear. “Your loss,” Len drawled before pulling his helmet on and securing it into place.

“I’ll see you back at the lab,” Barry sighed, shaking his head. He waited just long enough for Len to nod before zipping away, leaving a trail of lightning in his wake. Len flicked his wrist to rev his bike and followed after the Flash. Normally, he might have sped a little to get to where he was going, but tonight he took his time, enjoying the thought of keeping Barry waiting on him. Perhaps if Len took long enough to get to the lab, Barry might start to worry he’d backed out of the deal and driven away.

Considering that, though, made Len question why Barry _had_ raced off so quickly just now; because without him here, nothing was stopping Len from turning tail and leaving while Barry’s back was turned. Surely, he didn’t trust Len so much that he couldn’t imagine that scenario… The kid couldn’t be that naïve, right?

Len wasn’t going to do that, of course. But that was only because following through with this deal served him more than Barry knew. He wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get a first-hand peek inside Barry’s team, to figure out how the Flash worked and how Len might be able to exploit that information. And then there were the possibilities that these metas provided for Len’s Rogues…

Yes, tonight wasn’t all fun and games. It was business, and he would be wise to remember that. It was going to be a busy night, and he’d need to be on his game from the second that he entered the lab. If Lisa was here with him, it would have been easier for him to foil whatever plan the Flash had for moving these metas, but with Len being alone he’d have no one to draw the eyes and attention of the team. His timing would have to be flawless.

There was a red light up on the road ahead, and so Len slowed his bike to a stop and waited. Nearby, a couple was out walking their dog and did a double-take as they recognised him, looking frightened and backing away quickly around a corner. Len laughed to himself at that. His newfound fame didn’t come with too many perks outside of his criminal undertaking, but he did always find it amusing to watch people’s reactions as they saw him on the street. He’d come to expect it now whenever he went out in his parka like tonight.

Len thought about his offer to give Barry a lift back to STAR Labs then, laughing again as he thought about how _that_ would have looked to the common bystander. The Flash riding backseat to Captain Cold: now, that would have been a sight Len would have paid to see.

Eventually, the light turned green, and Len was on his way again. He arrived at STAR Labs a few minutes later and moved casually through the building unassisted. He thought about veering off to check out the various rooms he went past, trying to figure out what the plan was and how he could stop it now while he was alone, but Len thought better of that and just kept on moving. The heroes were expecting him tonight, so they were probably watching him through the cameras right now… It was best not to give them any reason to doubt him and his word.

Once Len got out of the elevator, he ran into Barry. The Flash was pacing anxiously in the corridor, his hood down now to expose his face, showing Len a better view of the stress etched into his every feature.

“You took your time,” Barry muttered as Len stepped out of the lift, and Len shrugged.

“Safety first,” he drawled. “Not all of us speed through traffic.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re the world’s most conscientious driver.”

“Well, not to _brag_ , but…” Len shrugged, and Barry let out a laugh which seemed to surprise him. He shook his head quickly to clear his thoughts and then began walking down the corridor towards the cortex, motioning for Len to follow. “So, what kind of welcome can I be expecting?” Len asked, if only to pass the time as they walked. “West didn’t take too kindly to seeing me this morning.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not your biggest fan.”

“And you are?”

Barry laughed again but otherwise ignored Len as he continued. “Plus, we’re all on high alert right now. If you wanted a warmer welcome, you probably shouldn’t have shown up unannounced like that.”

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing that I like to keep things nice and frosty.”

They were rounding the corner into the cortex now, and Len grinned devilishly as he made eye contact with the detective in question. He was standing there rigidly beside Cisco and Caitlin, looking as though he’d much rather be just about anywhere else right now rather than working alongside Leonard Snart. Truthfully, Len would have also preferred it if West wasn’t here, but alas they were stuck with each other… for now.

Len did his usual greetings, turning to each person in turn and watching Cisco and Caitlin fidget. He always enjoyed that, making the heroes uncomfortable under his gaze. It was fun. Although no-one squirmed like Barry Allen did, which was probably why Len had made it his mission to push the Flash’s buttons as much as he did.

Barry walked into the centre of the room, standing opposite his three friends, so Len followed him.

“I cannot believe this is really happening,” Caitlin muttered, shaking her head in clear dislike of being in the same room as Captain Cold. He didn’t blame her for that, of course. Len and Mick had kidnapped her only a few months ago, after all, and if she was able to just overlook that now, Len would have seriously questioned her mental state.

“This wasn’t how I saw my day going either,” he drawled. “Playing hero isn’t my idea of a good night.”

“No,” Cisco said, shaking his head. “You generally prefer kidnapping.” Because Dr Snow wasn’t the only one in this group that Len had held hostage recently. Though Len had to wonder if Cisco would have been quite so bitter tonight if Lisa had been here too. He’d seemed quite smitten with her, even after he’d discovered who she truly was.

Len grinned.

“That reminds me,” he drawled. “My sister told me to pass on her regards. She’s sorry she missed you tonight… I wonder why that is?”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cisco stammered, blushing, and Len nearly laughed. Instead, he continued staring the young engineer down until Barry spoke up.

“Look, I know you guys aren’t in love with this plan, but Snart is our best chance at getting those metas out of here. We need his help if we’re going to pull this off.” That part almost sounded rehearsed, and Len did laugh at that, only a small huff but it was there. Proof that Barry could disarm him in more ways than one.

Perhaps that was why Len found the kid to be such a fascinating opponent, even after all of these months. Even after having bested the Scarlet Speedster in multiple fights, after uncovering the man’s identity and beating his game, Len still thought that Barry was worthy of his time. He kept thinking that he would get bored eventually, that he’d have to move on again soon, but he never did. Keeping Len’s attention for as long as Barry had… that was a feat on its own.

“That’s right,” Len drawled, “I’m part of the team now.”

“Team?” Cisco scoffed. “Yeah, right, we should get t-shirts made.”

“I’ll put that on my to-do list,” Len nodded, and Cisco frowned as he failed to come back with anything. Len turned to face Joe West, who had been glaring at him consistently throughout this whole conversation. “What’s wrong, Detective? Don’t think I’m up to the task of protecting your boy tonight?”

“The only person you know how to protect is yourself.”

Len shrugged. “That might be true of the past, but I did make a deal, and I am a man of my word.”

“You’d better be,” West warned. “Or I’ll make sure you’re on that damn plane too.”

 _Charming_.

Len’s smile pulled even tighter, and he stepped away from the group while they all spread out and got to work. Unsurprisingly, Barry followed Len heading towards the corridor and away from the cortex, looking moderately more relaxed now that was over.

“Hey,” he said, pulling Len to a stop with his hand on Len’s forearm. It looked as though that was becoming a habit with Barry now, but Len decided to let it pass. For now. “Look, just… I know that not everyone seemed like they were on board back there, but thanks for doing this.” Barry smiled, sounding earnest, and it actually made Len feel a little bad about what he was planning. Barry was surprisingly endearing.

But Len wasn’t one to lose sight of the big picture just because of a pretty smile and a pair of big green eyes.

“So, this is where the magic happens, huh?” he asked instead of acknowledging Barry’s thanks, looking back into the cortex causally for a moment before turning back to face Barry. “Care to give me a tour?”

“Why do I get the feeling you already know your way around this building?” Barry asked, though he sounded more playful than suspicious. Of course, it was the truth. Len had found the blueprints for STAR Labs and studied them relentlessly from the first moment he ever found out about the Flash’s team. Though he’d only actually been in the building once before, Len probably knew the layout better than Barry did.

“I surely have no idea what you’re implying.”

“Of course not,” Barry laughed, leading Len away from the cortex. “Come on, I’ll show you what we’re working against.” Barry took him to a relatively small room filled with computer screens, all of them showing CCTV footage of inside the pipeline and the metas locked up. There were five in total, most of them just lounging around and keeping themselves occupied by reading a book or bouncing a ball against the wall.

“These are your metas?” Len asked, leaning forward onto one of the desks in the room and evaluating them all critically. “They don’t look all that dangerous.”

“Right,” Barry huffed, sounding a little offended, actually. He waved his hand to one screen to draw Len’s attention to the man inside. “Nimbus there? He can turn himself into a cloud of poison gas.” Barry then moved onto the next screen. “Simmons shoots lasers from his eyes. And Mardon here tried to destroy all of Central City with a tidal wave last month.”

“What about her?” Len asked, nodding his head towards the footage of the young woman locked sullenly in a cell. She was the most restless of them all, pacing the small area over and over again. “What was her crime?” Len, of course, already knew the answer to his own question. He had spent a long time researching the Flash and carefully studying his fights. He knew exactly who Shawna Baez was and what she had done, though he played naive now and watched Barry fidget uneasily.

“Shawna can teleport,” was all he said, clearly uncomfortable with the current line of questioning. The almost-playful relief he’d had earlier was steadily disappearing, and Len was a little sad to see it go. However, he always did get a lot of fun out of taunting the Flash.

“Sounds frightening.”

“Look, I’m not any happier about this than you are, but there are only two prisons in the world that can hold these metas, and this one is about to explode.” Barry squared himself up as though expecting a physical fight from Len about this. Of course, he was right that there would be a fight tonight; just probably not for another few hours. “If you’re not gonna help me, then–”

“I didn’t say that,” Len interrupted, shrugging. “I mean, what do I care what you do with these schlumps? I’m a criminal, too, remember?” Barry’s frown deepened even further still, clearly not liking Len’s implications that he and Barry were on the same level as each other. Len turned back to the footage of the five metas on-screen, studying them critically. “Granted,” Len continued casually, I’ve never been a human trafficker before. But, hey, there’s a first time for everything.”

“This isn’t human trafficking,” Barry defended himself, crossing his arms. Len didn’t turn back to face the Flash just yet, but he kept note of Barry’s uncomfortable shifting from the corner of his eye.

“Then what is it?”

Barry didn’t answer, and Len’s smirk only grew wider.

In his experience, there was nothing worse than a man with a hero complex. Someone so desperate to prove that they were the good guy, that they were better than everyone else, a man who thrived on chaos and would make problems where there were none just so he could play at being a saviour. Len hated that crap. So, when he turned back to face Barry now, what he expected to see was frustration and anger at Len daring to lump the two of them together.

Instead... Barry looked broken. Len had expected the Flash to make some brazen attempt at deflecting his remark. But Barry seemed dejected, remorseful even, open and raw.

It took Len by surprise.

“You don’t actually want them on that plane, do you?” he asked, though he wasn’t sure why. It didn’t make any difference to Len whether or not Barry’s intentions were good ones; it wouldn’t affect his plan. Still, he asked,

“If there was any other way…” Barry stopped and shook his head. “But there’s not.”

Well, actually, there was another way: _Len’s_ way. But allowing the metas to all go free clearly wasn’t an option that Barry was willing to consider, so Len kept quiet about that.

Still, he was shocked by Barry’s reaction, shocked enough that he just nodded and let the argument drop, not that it did anything to take the look of barely concealed pain from Barry’s face. And that expression… it seemed real. Like maybe this whole hero gig wasn’t just an act for Barry; like maybe he actually cared about what happened to these people, to this city, to everything. Barry looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“You look tense, Kid,” Len noted. “What else is going on here?” Because there had to be more to the story than this and, whatever it was, it looked personal. It had affected Barry deeply enough that he thought coming to Leonard for his help was a good idea. Affected him enough that he looked like he was actually going to drop his guard and bare his soul to Len, to tell him the truth because he so sorely needed _someone_ to talk to.

But then Barry snapped his mouth shut again at the last second, shaking his head as his face turned from devastated to annoyed.

“What are you expecting to get out of this, Snart?” he asked. “Do you think I’m just open up and spill all of my secrets to you?”

“Why not?” Len shrugged, telling himself again that he didn’t care what was going on so long as it didn’t interfere with his plan. Len put his smirk back on and purposefully moved his hand over to the Flash emblem on Barry’s suit, brushing an imaginary speck of dust away. Barry clearly tensed under Len’s delicate touch. However, he didn’t try to pull away while Len drifted his eyes back up to meet Barry’s and said: “It’s not like you have all that many of those left, _Barry_.”

“You know, bringing up the fact that you kidnapped one of my best friends and forced him to give up my identity probably isn’t your brightest idea right now, considering what I’m getting ready to do.”

“What?” Len asked. “You going to live up to West’s promise to ship me off to a deserted island?” Barry didn’t answer, and Len was forced to pretend he didn’t feel concerned. The truth was, Barry could make Len disappear tonight, and chances were no one would ever be able to find him again. That was more than a little disconcerting. But Len wasn’t going to let his worries show. “Come on, Barry, admit it, you’d never do that to _me_. You’d miss me too much.”

“In your dreams,” Barry scoffed, the tension successfully broken again. Len could have just let it drop there and then, but he supposed he was feeling a little risky tonight, so he continued.

“Well…” Len winked. “Maybe once or twice.”

Barry clearly hadn’t been anticipating that answer as he froze now. Not in disgust like Len might have expected, but in something else… as though he could picture it – picture _them_ , together – in his head right now, and he was entranced at the thought.

Len hadn’t really planned on giving away the punchline on the kind of carnal dreams he sometimes had about Barry Allen, though he was hard-pressed to regret it now with the way that Barry’s breath seemed to catch in his throat, his eyes wandering down to Len’s lips. Len leant forward, inching closer, but Barry still didn’t pull away.

“I guess you’ve thought about it too,” Len said, his voice a whisper, and Barry’s gaze finally glanced back up from Len’s lips and locked with his eyes instead. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but the words seemed to get lost on his tongue. He looked as tempted to lean in and close that gap between them as Len felt.

He thought about that, about how it would feel to have Barry Allen’s body pressed against his own, how Barry would feel in his arms, how his tongue would feel wrapped around Len’s cock. It was an enticing idea. Len had made a promise to himself not to get distracted tonight, but with Barry here, right now, them both leaning in closer as though physically drawn to each other, Len was just about ready to throw caution – and his plan – to the wind and just _go for it_.

Len’s hand was just coming up to brush against Barry’s jaw and thread his fingers through Barry’s hair when there was a noise outside in the hallway.

Barry’s eyes went wide. Suddenly he was on the opposite side of the room, electricity crackling and sparking in the air between them. Len’s hand was left hanging there uselessly inches away from where Barry’s face _had_ been. He clenched it into a fist instead and had just a second to spare to compose himself before Joe West swung open the door and marched into the room. Barry’s face was bright red, looking as guilty as though he’d just been caught bent over the table with Len thrusting into him from behind. Though West’s eyes hadn’t found Barry yet, too busy glaring at Len for daring to be in the same room with him, so Len decided he could take the attention for the time being.

“Ah, Detective,” Len drawled, and West’s lips thinned out in anger. But not as angry as he was going to be in a second… “Impeccable timing. Barry was just telling me about how you shot Mark Mardon’s brother in the face.”

“I… didn’t– It wasn’t in the–” Barry shook his head, flustered for a seemingly different reason now, enough so that perhaps his deep blush wouldn’t attract so many unwanted questions. “How do you even know about that?”

Len shrugged. It paid to know these kinds of things.

West glared back at Len, thoroughly pissed off, before finally breaking eye contact to look at his son.

“Hallway, now,” he demanded, and Len saw Barry nod out of the corner of his eye.

He slumped down as he walked past Len, looking like a child who was about to be told off for opening his Christmas presents a day early. Len smirked.

“I guess I’ll just stay here then,” he drawled, hoping that Barry might turn around and shoot him one of those pleading looks again. But Barry just kept on going, avoiding looking Len’s way for even a second, which was disappointing.

West closed the door behind them, effectively cutting Len off from their conversation, not that it would do much to stop Len from listening in if he wanted to. Luckily for them, though, Len had other things on his mind right now. Like Barry’s lips.

And he was surely going out of his damn mind because, right now, kissing Barry – no matter the consequences of that – was all that Len could think about.

[] [] []

Barry was in big trouble.

Not with Joe – or, he didn’t _think_ he was in trouble with Joe – but with… everything else.

Fuck.

Snart had just…

He…

And Barry…

 _Fuck_!

This wasn’t how today was supposed to go. But Barry couldn’t think about that right now because Joe was here, and he would not be happy to put together what had _nearly_ gone down in that room.

“Hey, what’s up?” Barry asked, trying for casual and probably missing by a mile. His foster father would have definitely noticed that, though he didn’t bring it up.

Instead, he said: “I don’t like this guy.” Barry nodded, he knew that. Though it seemed that Barry _did_ like Snart… and a lot more than he’d previously realised. But he had to remind himself that he was _not_ thinking about that right now. “And I get it,” Joe continued, “this isn’t my call to make. But I just have to check that you know what you’re doing here.”

He didn’t.

“Yeah, of course, Joe,” Barry lied. “This thing with Snart is… going exactly as planned.” If Barry’s plans had included nearly making out with the guy in one of STAR Labs’ side rooms, that is. “I’ve got him right where I want him.” Oh, _God_ , had that phrase always sounded so sexual?! “You have nothing to worry about.”

Barry was so screwed. And not in a fun way.

“Are you okay, Barr?” Joe finally asked, his face softening. Barry nodded.

“Yeah… Yeah, I just,” he sighed. “I want to just get this whole thing over with.” That, at least, was the truth. Barry had been waiting for this fight with Wells – waiting to confront the man in lightning who killed his mother – since he was 12 years old. And that fight… that was what Barry needed to think about right now, not whatever was going on between himself and Leonard Snart.

“You and me both,” Joe sighed. He still appeared concerned. “Just keep an eye on Snart. You know I don’t trust him.”

“And you think I do?” Did he? Did Barry trust Leonard? That was a difficult question to answer…

He clearly trusted him enough for them to work together, but was that as far as it went?

“I don’t know what to think,” Joe answered. And, yeah, neither did Barry.

“Anyway,” he said, trying to move this along. “Talking about keeping an eye on Leonard Snart… I better get back in there.”

“Good idea,” Joe nodded. But instead of walking away like Barry had expected, he moved closer to the door that Snart was standing behind.

“Are you, err… are you sticking around?” Barry asked awkwardly, and Joe shrugged.

“Two heads and all that.”

Barry didn’t want to admit it – not even to himself – but, yeah, that was a little disappointing. Or it was at first, anyway. Afterwards, it just became _frightening_. The idea of having Snart and Joe in the same room so soon after Leonard had made a move on Barry, so soon after Barry had very nearly reciprocated… That was enough to give a man nightmares.

“Actually,” Barry said, stepping in front of Joe before his foster father could take another step closer towards the door that Snart was waiting behind. “Why don’t you go find Cisco and see what he’s working on to transport the metas?” Barry suggested. “Snart and I will be right behind you.”

“You sure?” Joe asked, not sounding too convinced of Barry’s plan. Clearly, he felt the need to hover over Leonard like a guard dog keeping a watchful eye on someone he perceived as a threat. Someone who _was_ a threat. Snart was dangerous, and Barry needed to remember that.

But, still, he couldn’t let Joe into that room.

“Yeah,” Barry encouraged. “I can handle Snart alone for a few more minutes.”

Joe seemed sceptical still, but he eventually nodded and walked away, back towards the cortex where their friends were waiting. Barry took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and prepare himself before he had to see Snart again. Not that seeing Snart was a _bad_ thing, per se. In fact, the criminal was pretty easy on the eyes… But that was exactly the reason why Barry had to prepare himself because he should not be thinking things like that. Not now, not ever.

Finally, Barry pushed open the door to the small room and stepped inside. Snart was perched up on top of the table, and he smirked over at Barry as he walked in, looking as though he knew exactly what was on Barry’s mind.

“You know, Scarlet,” Snart said while Barry closed the door behind himself. The criminal hopped off of the table and took a step closer, his blue eyes burning with delight. “You can feel free to handle me anytime.”

“You were listening in,” Barry accused rather than focusing on the way his cheeks began to burn hot with embarrassment. He told himself that there was nothing for him to be embarrassed about, and yet he still couldn’t shift the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

“Not like I had much choice,” Snart shrugged. “These walls are paper thin.”

“Sure, they are,” Barry muttered, not taking Snart for his word, even though he maybe, kind of, wanted to…

“I’m curious about something,” Snart drawled, slinking closer to Barry again in a way which made his heart pound erratically against his chest. “What exactly is it you plan on doing with me that you couldn’t with West around?”

“I…” Barry shook his head and took a step away until his back hit the door. He kept reminding himself that Joe was waiting on them, that nothing could happen right now, that nothing _should_ happen ever. It was wrong on so, so many levels.

“Yes?” Leonard asked, pushing further into Barry’s space again, effectively caging him up against the door. Barry’s breathing began to falter. His eyes dropped to Snart’s lips, pink and plump and _right there_.

Fuck.

Barry wanted this.

He wanted it more than he was willing to admit.

Barry licked his lips, feeling suddenly dry and hot in this tiny room with only inches of space between himself and Leonard, the distance closing more and more as the seconds ticked on by. Snart’s body was pressing against Barry’s now, and he could barely think of any reason why he _shouldn’t_ just let Leonard kiss him. Why he shouldn’t just give in to this desire coursing through his veins, heading south and filling his cock.

Shit.

Leonard could surely feel his growing erection between them, pressing against Snart’s hard, warm body, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he dipped his head in closer, closing that last couple of inches of gap between them. Barry’s eyes fluttered closed.

But the kiss never came.

Instead, the door clicked as Snart grabbed the handle and twisted it open. When Barry opened his eyes, feeling his entire body burning a bright hot red, Snart was pulling back away again. His lips were still twisted in that devilish smirk as his eyes brimmed with untold laughter.

“I guess we better go track down your team,” Snart said, and Barry cringed at his own stupidity. Their bodies were still mostly pressed against one another, but Barry managed to slip away. His erection – still hard and uncontrolled in his Flash suit – dragged against Leonard’s hip as he moved, and Barry bit down on his lip to keep his gasp inside.

Snart said nothing as he opened the door and stepped through.

Barry just stood there, staring after Leonard, not sure how to react. He couldn’t find his breath.

Why had Snart done that? Did he not want Barry at all? Had Barry just made a complete and utter fool out of himself, or was this just foreplay? Barry had so many questions and little to no answer for any of it.

He popped his head around the corner and watched Snart as he moved down the corridor and towards the cortex. He had that cocky swagger about him which Barry pretended he didn’t like, though he knew deep down that he always had.

Snart didn’t seem to be having the same kind of internal dilemma as Barry was. He looked calm and in control, because _of course,_ he did; Leonard Snart wasn’t one to lose his head over anyone, least of all Barry Allen.

Barry wished that he could have that same kind of confidence. Wished that he didn’t need to overanalyse and overthink every single thing he said or did. Wished that he could just act without consequences… That was what he was trying to do with this whole deal with Snart in the first place, trying to use him to transport these metas and save Barry’s hide if it came to blows. But now Barry wondered about using Snart for a different reason.

Could he do that?

In front of Barry, Snart turned around a corner and out of sight, so Barry took a deep breath to will away the last of his erection and build just enough confidence to go face the criminal again. After a second, Barry nodded and ran after Snart, slowing from superspeed as they both neared the cortex.

“Enjoy the view?” Snart asked, winking at Barry and walking ahead into the cortex before Barry even had the chance to stammer out any excuses. Though, what would have Barry even said? That he wasn’t watching Snart’s ass? Technically, that wouldn’t have been a lie, but that was only because his damn parka covered him up.

“There you are,” Joe said, and Barry maybe flinched… just a little. But his reaction to hearing Joe’s voice right now should have been all the reminder that Barry needed about how lusting over Leonard Snart was a _bad idea_. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Or maybe it was, but Barry’s body just didn’t care? Either way, it was the same result… Barry wanted Snart so badly that it almost made him forget about everything else going on in his life.

Almost.

“I had no idea you would be so excited to see me, Detective,” Snart said, earning himself a glare from Joe which seemed to have no effect on him at all. “I’m beginning to rethink all of those horrible things I said to Barry about you earlier.” Christ, why did Barry have to find this guy so darn attractive?!

Joe seemed to double-down on his glare, but when it still had no effect, he just gave up and turned to Barry instead, completely dismissing Snart as though he weren’t even there. “Cisco was just telling us about the truck he’d rigged to move the metas.”

“Actually,” Cisco said, shaking his head. “Why don’t I just show you?” And then he led the way – carefully, as he passed Snart – down to the loading bay. He talked them through the ins and outs of his plan and how he’d modified the truck to produce a meta-dampening field to contain their powers. Barry listened intently, trying to get his mind back on track.

Tonight wasn’t about Snart. It was about getting these metas safely out of the city and returning in time to face down Wells. That was what Barry needed to focus on right now. Nothing else.

“Technically,” Cisco said after he’d finished with his explanation, “we need somebody with a Class A commercial driver’s license to drive this, though.”

“Well, we’re fresh out of luck there,” Joe muttered, and Barry nodded. He’d barely even got a regular license, never mind anything specialised like this. Plus, he was needed as the Flash to clear the route a lot more than he was needed as a driver. And, in the same vein, Snart and Joe were needed to escort the truck.

That just left Cisco and Caitlin.

“But, you know, how hard can it be?” Cisco asked, looking a tad nervous as he came to the same conclusion as Barry did.

“Do you want me to drive?” Caitlin asked, but Cisco shook his head.

“No. No, it’s fine. I mean, I drive the van around all the time, how much different can this be?” He didn’t sound convinced, but it was the only option they had. “I’ll just… do a couple of test laps around the building before we head off.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Snart shrugged from where he was crouched down in the back of the truck, watching and listening intently to everyone standing on the outside. “If you get pulled over by the cops, I’m sure they’ll be much more interested in your cargo than your license.”

Cisco gave his best bitch-face. “Yeah, you’re not helping.”

“Aren’t I?” Leonard asked, as though it came as a surprise to him, though they all knew Leonard had fully intended to make Cisco as uncomfortable about this as possible. “Why don’t you go pull some videos up on YouTube, I’m sure somebody has a crash course on driving this thing.”

Caitlin and Cisco both looked to be about to make some sort of rebuttal to Snart’s suggestion, but then – one after another – they both closed their mouths and frowned.

“That’s not actually a bad idea,” Cait admitted while Cisco shrugged. They were already on their iPads and looking up videos before they’d even left the room.

“You’re welcome,” Snart called after them, his tone of voice still very droll, and Barry had to bite back a laugh in response. His lips twitched with the urge to smile, but he did his best to hide that from Joe, who he knew would be far from impressed if he thought that Barry and Snart were actually getting along.

That thought made Barry’s heart race, though, because he currently wanted to do much more with Leonard Snart than just get along…

He couldn’t help but wonder how long he’d had these desires bottled up for. Clearly, this wasn’t as new a feeling as he’d thought, given how strongly Barry was reacting now. He must have been sitting on these feelings for a while, not really knowing they were there. Perhaps even subconsciously hiding them from himself, wishing they would just go away.

Admittedly, this wasn’t the first time he had ever thought about Captain Cold in any kind of sensual way… But everything before now had just been in a dream, something that Barry could just brush under the rug and chalk up to eating too much sugar before going to bed. He never would have imagined he’d be having these kinds of thoughts while awake, and yet here he was…

“Right,” Joe said, interrupting Barry’s thoughts. He was staring Leonard down again. “I have questions for you.”

“And I’m sure they’re all fascinating,” Snart replied as he dropped down from where he’d been crouching in the back of the truck to stand on the concrete floor of the loading bay, squaring up to Joe as though ready for a fight. Barry looked anxiously between the two of them, his heart trapped inside his throat; it felt like watching two cars about to collide in slow motion but being helpless to stop it.

“Let’s say something goes wrong out there tonight, what are you going to do about it?”

“Pretty vague question, don’t you think?” Snart drawled. “Care to elaborate?”

Joe crossed his arms and stood up tall, unimpressed with Leonard’s blasé attitude. “If one of those metas gets free, what’s your game plan?”

“I’ll go with… shoot first, ask questions later,” Snart drawled, and Barry winced so he didn’t really get a great look at the expression on Joe’s face, though he could imagine it wasn’t very happy. “What? I thought you’d like that plan. You’ve certainly been a fan of it in the past whenever it fits your agenda.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joe growled.

Literally.

He growled.

“I think you know,” Snart continued to push, that damn smirk still plastered to his lips.

Barry could see this heading south, fast.

“Joe, why don’t you go help Cisco prepare for this?” Barry asked suddenly, jumping into the conversation before it could get worse, hoping to diffuse the situation. He was also kind of hoping to get his foster father as far away from Leonard as possible right now so he wouldn’t catch wind of what was going on between them. That was all, though. He had no other motives for getting Joe out of the way; it wasn’t about wanting to be alone with Snart. It _wasn’t_. Still, he couldn’t tell Joe about his real reasons, so… “I just… you know, you taught me how to drive, Iris too. You… might be able to help out.”

“I’ve never driven a truck, Son,” Joe pointed out, and Barry shrugged.

“Yeah, well… neither have they.” Barry looked from Joe to Snart and then back to Joe again. He placed his hand on his foster father’s shoulder and led him a few steps away from the truck while Snart hung back. “I just think, you know, Cisco could use someone there who at least pretends to know what they’re doing. It’ll build his confidence,” Barry said, and then he lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued with: “Whereas Snart…”

“Will just knock it right back down again,” Joe finished, and Barry nodded.

“I figure I should keep him as far away from Cisco –” from _Joe_ “– as I can right now.”

Joe still didn’t look too convinced, though. Even less when he looked back over to Leonard and the criminal in question smirked back. “What’s wrong, West?” Snart asked, and Barry was already clenching up. “Are you worried I might _corrupt_ your son?” Oh, why did he have to phrase it like _that_?

Joe’s nostrils flared from his barely concealed rage. But, surprisingly, that actually seemed to _help_ Barry’s case rather than hinder it; a little reminder of exactly why Leonard Snart wasn’t a good guy to have around when you were feeling self-conscious about anything.

A little reminder of why Barry shouldn’t like the guy.

But he did.

“I’m warning you, Snart,” Joe said, raising his finger to point at Cold even as he took a step backwards towards the door that would lead him back to the cortex. “One false step and you’ll be on that plane too.” Joe waited until after Leonard had nodded his head – even as sardonically as he did – before fully turning around and leaving to find Cisco and Caitlin.

And then there were two.

“Alone at last, hey?” Leonard drawled, his words mimicking Barry’s thoughts as though he was a mind reader.

“Come on,” Barry sighed and led Leonard away from the truck. He headed towards the second door out of the loading bay, directly at the opposite side of the large underground station, sitting as far away from the door which the others had all left through as Barry could get. He didn’t want to risk running into them again in the building, but he definitely didn’t want to just sit here and wait for them all to return either. They wouldn’t be long, Barry was sure. There were only three hours left until the particle accelerator came online, and the metas needed to be long gone by then.

“What’s the rush?” Snart asked as Barry didn’t slow his pace down any even after they turned a corner and left the truck behind and out of sight. “I thought you’d like me getting to know your friends.”

“Is that what you call terrorising them?”

“Terrorising is a harsh word. I prefer persistent character-building.”

Despite himself, Barry laughed. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Maybe I am,” Snart admitted. His voice was a little warmer than usual, soft enough that it made Barry turn his head to look Snart over, his feet slowing. “Is that such a bad thing?” His eyes were big and blue and _far_ too innocent for Barry’s liking.

“You’re up to something,” he accused, trying to bring back _any_ of that previous suspicion; any of it at all. Barry couldn’t trust Leonard Snart, because if he actually, honest to God, _trusted_ him, then…

Then there would be nothing stopping Barry from sleeping with him.

“Just having a little fun,” Leonard shrugged, slinking closer. “And it is fun, Barry. More than I thought it would be. Me and you. Working together.” The way he paused there almost sounded as though they were two separate items that he was listing off rather than one. As though the ‘ _me and you_ ’ held a weight of its own. Barry supposed it did. “Who’d have thought it?”

Not Barry, that was for sure.

He kept on walking, head down, trying not to think about it.

But Leonard… “You know, I think I might be changing my mind.”

“About what?” Barry asked cautiously. Snart placed his hand on Barry’s shoulder and pulled him to a stop in the middle of the loading bay.

His blue eyes were dazzling.

“About what I want.”

“I already got you your files,” Barry reminded him, and Snart nodded.

“I know. And a deal’s a deal. I’m talking about a different want,” Snart elaborated. He pressed forward, pushing Barry backwards as he did until his back hit a large concrete column, cornering him there. He dipped his head closer to Barry’s, and every rational part of Barry’s brain was telling him to push Snart away. But he didn’t. “And this... I wouldn’t write this on a napkin. You need to want this too, Barry,” he whispered, his voice warm and sultry and only inches away. He was close enough that the heat from his body felt almost tangible between them.

Snart smirked.

“Do you?”

Barry’s breath hitched as Leonard ran his fingers gently down Barry’s torso. His hand halted at the belt on Barry’s suit, fiddling idly with the zipper there.

“Do you want me, Barry?”

Barry didn’t say anything, but his actions spoke louder than any words he could have said as he found his hips twitching up at Snart’s hand. His dick was already stirring to life for the second time tonight.

Snart dropped to his knees in front of Barry, uncovering the hidden zipper there with ease and slowly dragging it down the length of Barry’s groin. Barry was already beginning to shake with pent-up desire. God. What was he thinking letting Leonard Snart touch him like this? He should stop it, stop it now before it even really had the chance to begin.

But he didn’t.

Instead, Barry leant further back against the pillar behind, staring wordlessly down at Snart as the thief in question ran his thumb along the outline of Barry’s growing erection in his briefs. Barry wanted to moan, but he bit that back, biting down harshly against his bottom lip as he felt his blood rushing south, making his cock swell thick and heavy in his pants. Snart looked delighted by Barry’s quick reaction, grinning up at him, those blue eyes glinting mischievously beneath his eyelashes.

A part of Barry wanted to look away, to close his eyes and pretend that this wasn’t happening, that it was someone else on their knees in front of him. But Barry was too mesmerised by the beauty of Leonard Snart to actually turn away now. He was going to watch every second of this and, _God_ , he was going to enjoy it.

Snart pressed a little harder against Barry’s dick as he continued to explore its length through Barry’s quickly-dampening briefs. Pleasure sparked throughout Barry’s body, and he vibrated in response.

“Shit,” Snart breathed out, his thumb playing relentlessly with the head of Barry’s cock. The way he was looking up at him now... Barry could have sworn it was in awe. That couldn’t be right though, but that dazzling look in Snart’s eyes combined with the way his mouth was hanging just slightly open while he continued to rub mercilessly at Barry’s erection was _doing things_ for him.

Barry balled his hand into a fist at his side to stop himself from reaching out to Snart now. He wanted to run his fingers across his shaved head, he wanted to grip on tight and guide Snart’s lips closer towards Barry’s eager dick which was already hot and ready and leaking with pre-come. He wanted Snart’s tongue against his over-sensitive skin, wanted somewhere nice and wet and hot to bury his cock. Barry wanted _so much_.

Too much.

But Snart seemed obliged to give it all to him as he leant forward and ran his tongue against the outline of Barry’s cock. It wasn’t enough though, and Barry whined for more, no longer caring about what sounds he made. So long as he got to come inside Leonard Snart’s mouth, Barry didn’t care.

Leonard grinned, pulling away momentarily before pressing a hot, wet kiss at the base of Barry’s cock, the moisture from Snart’s tongue leaking through the material of Barry’s briefs and driving him mad.

Barry shivered, and it turned into another vibration that wrecked its way through his entire body. Leonard’s lips wrapped around the head of his cock through the material of his briefs, his tongue warm and moist as it pressed against Barry. His breath caught in his throat from the sensations, his dick twitching desperately. Leonard kissed down Barry’s erection, mouthing at his balls, and Barry bit down against his own bottom lip as he moaned loud and lewd.

His head fell back against the column behind, his eyes closing as he panted away, his hips canting forward without his permission. Barry tried to stop that, tried to regain some of his control, but he couldn’t.

He needed more.

He _needed_ it.

But he wasn’t going to beg Leonard to quit messing around and get to it, he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of having the Flash pleading for him, if only because Barry knew he’d never hear the end of it.

Thankfully, Snart seemed just as eager as Barry was because soon his fingers were hooking underneath the top of Barry’s briefs and tugging them down along with his pants.

Barry found the strength to open his eyes and glance down at Leonard, and _Christ_ , that was a sight to see. Snart’s eyes were such a dark blue in this light, his pupils blown so wide with lust that they appeared completely black. His lips were pink and slick. And his _body_ … Barry could see the outline of Snart’s cock, made all the more obvious as Snart was palming himself, rubbing his own erection through his jeans with one hand as he reached out with the other and wrapped his warm fingers around Barry’s dick.

He tried so hard to keep looking down at Snart now, tried so hard to stop his head from rolling back to allow Barry to moan up to the heavens above. It was one hell of a challenge though as Snart glided his hand up and down Barry’s cock, squeezing just tight enough to have Barry’s toes curling with delight inside his Flash boots.

 _Christ_ , he was still in his Flash suit. Or, half in it, at least, since his pants were pushed down to his knees… but that was beside the point. The point was that the Flash was standing there while _Captain Cold_ – dressed in full gear, with the goggles hanging around his neck and the cold gun strapped to his thigh – worked both of their cocks. It was wrong. It was so, so wrong.

But it felt so good.

Another vibration overtook Barry’s body, and he heard Leonard’s breathless moan in response, which only egged him on further.

“If I’d known you could do that,” Snart muttered. “Then I would have done this _so_ much sooner.”

Barry didn’t know how to respond to that because these vibrations had been nothing but a hindrance to him before, putting a firm halt on Barry’s sex life. He’d thought that sex was just always going to be so restrictive for him now, that he’d never be able to relax and let go in the moment again; he’d never let himself dream about a future where his partner knew his secrets. A future where Barry didn’t have to hide, where he could use his powers freely and take sex to a whole new level.

But now Barry’s mind was filled with fantasies that he was dying to fulfil.

First, though…

Leonard parted his lips and leant forward again on his knees, his hand slowing to a stop at the base of Barry’s cock, guiding him.

Barry was already throbbing as Leonard’s tongue made contact with his skin, hot and moist as he licked up Barry’s shaft from base to tip. Barry’s head fell back against the wall again while Snart sucked the head of his weeping cock into his mouth, circling it with his tongue before pulling off with a wet pop.

And then back down to his balls, licking, and kissing, and sucking them into his soft mouth. Barry moaned and writhed for more. He wouldn’t beg. He _wouldn’t_. But, God, did he want to. He wanted Leonard’s lips wrapped around him, wanted to fuck up into him, wanted to get his hands on Snart’s body and make him feel as amazing as Barry did right now.

He wanted it all.

Leonard’s mouth ran up Barry’s cock until it reached his tip, lapping up the pre-come gathering there before sucking Barry’s head into his mouth once more. Barry gasped and moaned, losing control of his hand as it shot out to cup the back of Leonard’s head, but there was nothing to grab onto there so he reached further, exploring the back of Snart’s head and neck until he finally found purchase with his fingers buried in the soft hood of his parka. He rocked his hips forward, chasing that glorious heat, whining in the back of his throat. Barry couldn’t take the wait anymore. He needed Snart _now_.

And Leonard was all too happy to comply as he finally took him in whole, licking leisurely down his shaft until Barry felt the head of his dick press against the back of Snart’s throat. Barry’s mouth dropped open as he did his best to hold back his vibrations. He couldn’t, however, keep the scream of pleasure from leaping out of his parted lips. He held on tight to Snart’s shoulder, his fingers digging into the parka while he struggled to maintain control over his body.

Snart let out a huff of a laugh through his nose, and Barry felt the noise trembling around his cock as the soft exhale of air swept against his pelvis. He very nearly came right then and there, but he dug his fingers in deeper against Leonard’s parka and managed to hold himself together even as he continued to vibrate in waves uncontrollably. Eventually, Snart pulled himself off of Barry’s dick with a wet pop.

“Some pretty noises you make there, Scarlet,” he drawled, his fingers tightening back around Barry’s shaft and pulling at him mercilessly, not so much guiding Barry towards his orgasm as dragging him there.

“I’m going to hell for this,” Barry said around a moan. He looked down to find Leonard smirking back up at him, his spare hand still rubbing himself through his jeans.

“We’re all going to hell for something, Barry,” Snart said, his eyes glistening with delight as he winked. “You might as well enjoy the ride.”

He didn’t wait for Barry to respond before taking his cock in again, gliding his lips all the way to Barry’s base again, pausing only momentarily before pulling back up, but not all the way this time. Snart bobbed his head up and down Barry’s cock. Slow at first, testing his limits, but then faster.

And the _noises_ he was making; those soft, slick sounds…

Barry trembled, his dick vibrating inside Snart’s mouth.

He was trying desperately to hold back his orgasm, panting and moaning, his head tilted back up towards the ceiling. His toes were curling up inside his boots while Snart’s mouth continued to fuck himself onto Barry’s weeping, aching erection. Barry dug his fingers in even deeper against Snart’s parka, trembling as Snart’s wet, hot mouth was sliding up and down his cock brutally fast, barely allowing Barry the time to breathe.

Snart pulled off Barry’s dick for a few seconds to catch his breath, his hand taking his mouth’s place as his callous fingers dragged up and down Barry’s oversensitive cock, beating him off. It was rough and fantastic.

Barry bit down on his lip, harsh enough that he thought he may have actually drawn blood, but he didn’t care. He managed to gain enough strength to look down again, just in time to watch Snart’s pink, slick lips wrap around Barry’s dick once more, his right hand steadying Barry’s erection so that he could take the whole dick again, deepthroating Barry. But it wasn’t slow and steady like before, Leonard had Barry’s cock pressing into the back of his throat and down within barely a second. And then he was off again. Down, and off. Down, and off. Repeatedly taking every last inch that Barry could offer as though it was open season on his cock.

Barry whined in the back of his throat as his dick hit the back of Snart’s over, and over, and over again. And Snart was enjoying it too, his eyes closed, his right hand moving around Barry’s body to squeeze his ass. And as Barry managed to look down again, he saw Snart’s other hand slip into his own jeans and taking himself in hand. Barry was mesmerised watching Snart whip himself out, beating his own cock with the same ferocious appetite as he was devouring Barry’s.

Barry’s hips twitched forward without his approval, and he cursed himself for it, trying to keep as still as he could. But Snart didn’t seem to mind. He hummed encouragement around Barry’s cock, and Barry gasped and writhed, allowing another little thrust forward into Leonard’s waiting and eager mouth.

Snart moaned happily again. So, Barry let go, allowing his hips to move freely against Snart’s mouth, watching his throbbing cock disappear and then reappear again between those shining pink lips. It was enough to drive a man mad until he just couldn’t watch anymore.

Barry’s head hit the wall behind as he moaned upwards, panting and vibrating. Unable to hold it back any longer, Barry’s hips gave one final shove forward into the wet heat of Snart’s mouth, and he came with a cry of delight and a crackle of lightning across his skin.

For a moment, Barry just saw white as Snart sucked him through his orgasm, lapping up every last drop from Barry’s cock.

Then, when Barry was fully spent, Snart pulled off his dick, resting his forehead on Barry’s pelvis, panting and moaning, the air from his gaps chilling Barry’s damp skin and making him shiver.

Barry looked down again, seeing Leonard working his own cock as fast as he could, so turned on and desperate for release that he couldn’t wait for a second longer. Barry clung onto Snart’s shoulder and dragged him up onto his feet, taking over Snart’s efforts as he wrapped his hand around Leonard’s blushing erection.

Snart buried his head into the crook of Barry’s neck, gasping loud and breathless as the sound of raw skin slapping together echoed louder and louder through the large room. Barry picked up the pace on Leonard’s cock while he bit a kiss against Barry’s skin as though he just couldn’t hold that in any longer.

With his spare hand, Barry pushed Leonard’s pants down as far as they could go – the cold gun strapped to his thigh making that difficult – before finally slipping his hand down to squeeze Snart’s ass. Snart seemed to like that if the incoherent moans that rushed from his lips were anything to go by. His hips were thrusting back and forward against Barry’s hands, getting closer and closer to his orgasm.

Barry guided his hand lower down Snart’s ass as he continued to beat his cock hard and fast. He slipped a finger down between his cheeks, playing at Snart’s hole. Leonard nodded his wordless encouragement against Barry’s neck, moaning into Barry’s ear. And _Christ_ , Barry could feel himself growing hard again. He considered slowing this right on down, opening Snart up but not letting him come until Barry’s cock was buried nice and deep inside his ass, fucking him harshly against the wall.

He’d make it good for Snart, make it worth the wait, make it the best damn sex of his life if he could.

Barry wanted that so much, but he could feel the energetic shift of Leonard’s hips, hear the stuttered breathing catching in his throat, and he knew that Leonard was only moments away from coming. So, Barry just rubbed at Snart’s rim and beat at his swollen cock, vibrating both hands at the same time and enjoyed the show as Snart came against Barry, his body shaking with his orgasm, a shout of pure ecstasy ripped from his lips.

Snart collapsed forward against Barry’s body, clinging onto him, and Barry adjusted his hold, letting go of Snart’s dwindling erection to embrace him back. And as Leonard began to press kisses against Barry’s neck and jaw, Barry turned his head to meet his lips instead.

It wasn’t lost on Barry that this was the first time they’d kissed. They’d kind of skipped past this step earlier, though Barry couldn’t say why exactly because _damn_ Leonard Snart was a good kisser. His tongue was warm and rough against Barry’s, the kiss lazy and sated and tasting of Barry’s come; it sent a pleasant chill down his body. His dick was definitely still interested, and Barry didn’t know about whether or not he should be embarrassed by his own speedy recovery time.

They were still standing there – bare from the waist down while Snart alternated between panting against Barry’s wet skin or pressing wild kisses to his lips – when Barry’s ears picked up on the sound of an oncoming vehicle approaching on their position. He didn’t pause before pushing Snart away, pulling his own pants back up and rushing them both out of the loading bay before so much as a second had passed. He didn’t stop running until they were safely inside that small monitoring room again: the only place still inside STAR Labs which Barry could think of running to right now.

Inside the room, Snart staggered back as he struggled to piece together what had happened, nearly tripping up as his pants were still wrapped around his thighs and greatly restricting his movements. He appeared bewildered, blinking owlishly around at their new surroundings. Barry was surprised to realise that he actually looked kind of cute when he was confused, and cute had never been a word Barry would have used to describe Captain Cold in the past, but today it just fit.

For a moment, Barry felt the urge to reach across and erase the bewildered look from Leonard’s face with his tongue…

But the interruption had created a crack in their little bubble and was forcing the real world back in. So, by the time that Leonard had caught up with what happened and had schooled his face back into that cool mask, Barry was already beginning to come undone.

But he had been through enough crazy shit this last year that at least he was getting pretty good at hiding it. So, he put on a smile and pretended that everything was okay.

Snart seemed to buy it.

[] [] []

Barry was clearly freaking out.

Len supposed he didn’t blame him, though. To have sex with your enemy was one thing when you were someone like Len – someone who could compartmentalise and stop it from interfering with your work – but it was a whole other kettle of fish when you lived in a ‘black or white’ kind of world as Barry did. This wasn’t exactly the first time Len had slept with someone he probably shouldn’t have, so he’d learnt how to uncomplicate the matter.

But for Barry? How he was going to deal with this development in their relationship… Len didn’t know.

And it would only get worse once Len betrayed the plan tonight.

Which he would; he already knew how he was going to do it. He’d already inspected the power dampener inside that truck earlier – and thanked a God he wasn’t quite sure if he believed in that he had so much knowledge about vehicle cooling systems due to the time he’d spent inside his Grandfather’s ice delivery van as a kid – so he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew how to create a slow leak in one of those pipes which would be undetectable until it was too late.

Len wasn’t going to feel bad about betraying Barry though.

This was just business.

He smirked, putting on that cool demeanour which he so often hid behind, burying away all of his ill-intentions but allowing his more lascivious ones to show through.

“That was unexpected,” Len said, drawling his words, flicking his eyes up and down Barry’s body to show that he wasn’t talking about the sudden rush of being run back here. Barry blushed and looked away, grabbing some wipes from a cupboard, and cleaning his hands of Len’s come while Len hiked up his pants and tucked himself back in again. “But in a good way. In a very, _very_ good way.”

Barry’s blush only deepened, which Len took an exceptional amount of pleasure in witnessing.

“Right back at you,” Barry laughed, sounding a little nervous still. Len couldn’t help but find that adorable. And maybe adorable wasn’t usually his type, but he could certainly appreciate it in Barry Allen, especially when paired with his strength and general capability.

Barry was the kind of man who could keep Len on his toes, and his aura of innocence, that cute smile, and those big green eyes only served to contrast everything else and made Barry stand out from all the others. He was an odd mix, and Len couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Len felt the urge to reach over and kiss Barry again, but he didn’t do it. Not yet. He didn’t want to give the wrong impression about what this was. So, instead, he glanced around the room, his eyes falling on the monitors displaying the metas in their cells; a reminder of why he was here and what needed to be done. It wasn’t a pleasant reminder, though. In fact, Len only became tense at the thought of going through with his plan now.

“So, you’re really going to send these poor souls off to a deserted island, huh?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the monitors.

“They’re criminals,” Barry said as though that made what he was doing right. Not that Len _cared_ about what was right and what was wrong, but he’d thought that Barry would be a little more concerned.

“As am I,” Len reminded him. “In fact, I’ve done a lot worse than most of these have. But you’re not packing me off with them.”

“Yet.”

“Ouch,” Len drawled, turning his eyes on Barry again now.

He was smiling back at Len, looking so pretty. There was a fire behind his eyes, the same heat that Len had seen looking down at him as he’d licked Barry’s cock into his mouth. And Len knew that he had good reasons for not kissing Barry again now. He knew that…

But he supposed that he simply couldn’t resist just one more taste.

He pushed forward into the Flash’s personal space and watched as Barry’s eyes followed his lips. Len smirked, turning fully to cage Barry in against the desk. He was clearly surprised by the move, but he didn’t try to pull away. Len pushed closer still until their bodies were pressed flat against one another, from the chest downwards.

“And here I was thinking that we were beginning to get along,” Len continued, his voice hush as his eyes leisurely roamed the features of Barry’s face, pausing at his mouth.

Barry physically gulped, and Len leant across until his lips ghosted against Barry’s. Just a tease. A soft reminder of what they had been up to only ten minutes ago – not that Len was likely to go forgetting about _that_ any time soon.

And, from the looks of it, neither would Barry.

He was staring down Len’s lips as though he wanted to go for another round. Len _really_ wouldn’t have minded that, though he doubted they had time for it right now, which was a damn shame. And as though he had read Len’s mind, Barry soon stepped sideways out of Len’s hold and cleared his throat.

“The plane’s going to be here in about two hours,” he said, his voice a little shaky and his cheeks burning red. “We should probably check on how Cisco’s doing.”

Len nodded and gestured towards the door for Barry to lead the way. He did, and Len followed back towards the loading bay. The walk was short but tense as Barry was clearly still struggling with what they had done earlier. Len tried not to feel bad about that – about how Barry’s apprehension was entirely justified – but he was, surprisingly, more affected than he should have been.

Not affected enough to stop, though.

Like he’d said earlier, Len could compartmentalise this. Having sex with the Flash had been… indescribably amazing, and certainly something that Len’s entire body yearned to do again. But it wasn’t the reason why he was here tonight. And Len silently reminded himself of that as they walked into the loading bay and approached the truck.

Barry’s team saw them drawing near and scrambled out of the front to meet them.

“You ready?” Barry asked, and Cisco nodded.

“Yeah,” he enthused. “I mean… so long as I don’t need to put this puppy in reverse, we should be good to go.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Barry joked, appearing nervous. But then he took a deep breath and nodded, looking as though he were trying to build his confidence again. “Okay, then let’s get this show on the road.”

And just like that, everyone moved back up to the cortex. Len would have liked to hang back for a moment, just long enough to knock some of that tubing inside out of place to disrupt Cisco’s power dampening field, but West was ever watchful over him, and that made Len’s job so much more difficult. If Lisa had been here, she would have been able to distract everyone while Len did his thing; but working alone like this was tricky. He had to be careful not to act too soon or raise anyone’s suspicions.

But right now, he was running out of time.

Back in the cortex, Team Flash knocked the metas out by _gassing_ them, and not a single one of the so-called heroes batted an eye about it. Not even Barry. That only served to prove how dissociated they had become, not because they didn’t care, but because they were just too desperate to really think about what they were doing and see the terrifying truth for what it was.

And, honestly, the more Len saw, the less he felt like the villain in this little story.

But then Barry caught his eye, the Scarlet Speedster blushing bright enough to earn his name and then quickly looking away as though he was currently vividly remembering what Len’s dick looked like. Perhaps even thinking about a repeat of this evening… And then Len remembered that, although he might not be the villain, he definitely wasn’t the hero either.

He’d used Barry tonight. And he was going to be using these metas too, just in a very different way. Because, as disturbed as Len may have been about Team Flash’s actions, he certainly wasn’t sabotaging their plan out of the goodness of his heart and the morality of his soul; he was doing it because he was selfish and greedy, and nothing more.

The team went down to the cells and to begin moving the metas into the lorry. Len knew that he and Barry should go with them to help – it was the only way that he could get back inside that truck without raising anyone’s suspicions – and yet, still, he paused.

Len didn’t have the time to doubt himself now, but that wasn’t what he was doing. He didn’t doubt anything. Except from, maybe, whether or not Barry could change his mind tonight. Perhaps the kid might realise just how wrong everything was that he was doing?

Perhaps…?

Len held onto Barry’s arm, holding him back while the rest of the team left the room, heading for the pipeline cells. They were at the back of the room anyway, so no one noticed the touch, but Barry still looked nervous about it, glancing anxiously from Len’s face to the backs of his retreating team.

He didn’t say anything until they were out of sight.

“We don’t have time for…” Barry whispered, his voice fading to nothing before he could finish his sentence. But the look on his face told Len exactly what Barry had been trying to say, and the thought of stealing another couple of minutes to fool around again was certainly tempting…

But, Barry was right; they didn’t have the time for that right now.

And that wasn’t why he’d stop him anyway.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Len asked, and Barry flushed bright red, his mind clearly still on an entirely different track than Len’s was. So, he shook his head. “I mean with the metas.”

Barry frowned. “Cisco’s tech has never failed me before. The power dampener will hold.”

No, it won’t.

Not if Len has anything to say about it.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?” Barry urged, letting out a short and nervous laugh. “Are you suddenly growing a conscience?”

Len frowned. He didn’t appreciate the joke; he’d always had a conscience.

He just chose not to listen to it, was all.

And today was no different. He wasn’t trying to talk Barry out of shipping these metas on a one-way plane out of here because it was _unethical_ , nor was he doing it because betraying Barry tonight felt underhanded. That wasn’t what this was.

This was…

This…

Okay, yeah, sure, so maybe Len was looking for a reason not to go through with his plan. Maybe that was true. But so what if it was? It didn’t mean he was turning soft or losing his touch, all it meant was that having sex with Barry Allen had been one of the most amazing experiences of his life, and Len yearned to find out exactly what else Barry could do for him in bed.

But he knew that if he went through with sabotaging the truck and letting the metas escape, then he’d never get another chance to settle himself down between Barry’s legs again. So, yes, maybe he wished that the choice would be taken out of his hands. Maybe he secretly wanted Barry to abort the mission and release the metas on his own free will so that Len didn’t have to break them out.

There was nothing wrong with wanting that; nothing at all. And anyone who said any differently had clearly never had the honour of swapping spit and knocking boots with the Scarlet Speedster.

“It’s not _my_ conscience I’m thinking about,” Len said pointedly, and Barry tensed. He’d clearly hit a nerve there.

But unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be enough for Barry to back down.

“Then let’s get this over with,” Barry said. He didn’t wait for Len to try anything else, he just turned around and walked away. It wasn’t exactly a wise choice to make, and if Barry had thought about it, he probably would have realised that leaving Leonard Snart unsupervised inside the cortex was a terrible idea.

Luckily for Team Flash, though, Len knew he wouldn’t gain anything from snooping around here. His plan was centred around that truck, so he gained nothing from the cortex tonight. He didn’t even bother to look around, he just sighed and followed Barry away. He caught up pretty fast, but they just walked in silence until they arrived at the pipeline with the others.

Len helped to take the metas down to the underground. And as he was lowering Mark Mardon down onto the ground inside the truck, he realised that he was, for one moment, blissfully out of sight of West’s prying eyes.

He didn’t know how long he would be alone for, but Len only need a few seconds to puncture a small hole into one of the pipes for the modified cooling system turned power dampener. He paused for only the briefest moments before doing just that. Five seconds later and Len was stepping away and helping to unload the rest of the metas into the back of the truck, the hole going unnoticed for the time being. Cisco’s scanners didn’t even pick it up, though of course, Len knew that they wouldn’t. Not until it was too late.

With the metas secured, they set off, quickly making their way to Ferris Air. The ride was uneventful, which was good. Len didn’t want the metas breaking out of their cage too soon and putting civilians in danger, inadvertently breaking his deal with the Flash. But then they got to the airport, and they waited, and for a long time, nothing happened. Len was beginning to think that he’d played things a little _too_ safe, that the slow-leak he’d created was too slow, that perhaps he should have stuck a hole or two more into that pipe…

But then Cisco came running out with his warning, and the plane was shot down from the sky, and all hell broke loose.

Len ducked behind a car for cover and watched the fight play out. He watched, and he waited for his chance to shine. But then Jake Simmons squared up against the Flash and looked as though he was going to deliver a final blow…

He should have just hidden and waited. Len had every intention of keeping a low profile until he could make his announcement to the metas of how much they all owed him for their lives. Barry would have been fine, he was sure. He probably would have flashed right out of the way, or perhaps he _would_ have been hit, but surely not killed. He was a speedster. He would heal.

But…

Well, Len had given Barry his word; he’d vowed to have his back if things went pear-shaped here tonight. And, although Len was the one who _started_ this mess…

He jumped up out of his cover spot and fired his cold gun at Simmons, killing him.

Obviously, Len had to dodge back immediately to avoid retaliation from Mardon or Bivolo – and this part of the plan would have certainly been _much_ easier with Lisa there to back him up – but Len eventually managed to get them to stop and listen. And then he gave his whole speech about how he’d freed them, heavily implying that they owed him big time and to expect Len to cash in on it.

Then they left.

Len turned to see Barry lying there on the floor, in unmistakable pain.

His stomach twisted up. After what happened between them earlier…

He wasn’t as proud of what he’d accomplished tonight as he probably would have been if he didn’t know exactly what Barry’s cock tasted like on his tongue.

Len had had the best God-damn orgasm of his life tonight, but he’d also certainly kissed goodbye to _any_ chance of a repeat performance now. So, when Len bent down beside Barry, taking a moment to look him over for any signs of serious injury – there wasn’t any – and Barry asked him _why_. Why he’d sabotaged the truck. Why he’d slept with Barry this evening if he’d known how this whole show was going to play out…

When Barry stared at him with this big, hurt eyes and begged for it all to make sense, Len bit back every emotion that he felt swirling in his gut and shrugged. There was no saving their relationship, so he didn’t try. Len reminded Barry of who he was, reminded him of why he shouldn’t trust in criminals or expect them to change.

Len was who he was, and Barry had known _exactly_ who that was when he’d come to Len for help earlier. He’d known who he was when they’d had sex tonight.

This wasn’t on Len.

It was on Barry.

That speech, though, wasn’t quite as gratifying as he’d thought it would be.

Len stood up straight and left on his motorbike. He put Barry in his mirrors and rode until Ferris Air was long since out of sight.

Then he kept on going.

He drove away, and he did his best to not confront the reason why his stomach had become twisted up into knots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how excited I am to share this story with you all. I hope you're enjoying it so far!


	2. Chapter 2

“ _I think, for once in your life, Barry Allen… you should stop thinking about other people. I think you should do what’s in your heart; do what you need to do for yourself_.”

Barry couldn’t truly say why Iris’ words had brought him here. While everyone else was with their loved ones, making use of their last days in this timeline, Barry was standing outside of a bar. He shouldn’t be here. He should just head home to Joe and watch old movies together and eat fattening foods and just enjoy the time they had left. He should be with the people he cared about while he still remembered he cared for them… while they still remembered him at all.

Who could even say what this new timeline would be like after he saved his mother’s life tomorrow?

Who knew how much the lives of Barry and his friends would change?

Barry should turn around right now and go home.

Instead, he went inside.

Saints and Sinners was busy tonight, busier than the last time Barry was here only a few days earlier; though he supposed that wasn’t really saying much, considering that the previous trip had been during the day, whereas now it was late into the bustling hours of the night. But despite the crowd, it wasn’t difficult to find Leonard Snart. He was sitting in a booth, alone, and it was almost as though no one else dared to step within 10 feet of his table.

Barry supposed that made sense; Snart was the most famous of the Flash’s enemies, the most revered. Plus, he’d taken on the Santini crime family and killed their boss a few months ago, yet they hadn’t even attempted to retaliate. The Santinis were scared of Captain Cold, so everyone else was too.

Everyone but Barry, who just strode right on up to Snart’s table and sat down.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Leonard drawled. He didn’t look or sound surprised, but Barry figured that he was just good at hiding it. “At least… not like that.” He flicked his fingers down to gesture at Barry’s lack of a Flash suit. “I didn’t think you’d want to pick a fight in your street clothes.”

“I’m not here to fight,” Barry said, sounding much more confident than he felt.

“No?” Leonard took a swig of his beer and settled back in his seat. “Well, I can’t imagine you’re here for another team-up, so spill. What do you want?”

That was a good question. Though a better question might have been _why_ did he want it? Why the hell, after Snart had betrayed him and set the metas free, did Barry still want him? Barry should hate him.

He didn’t.

Barry leant forward on the table, staring Snart down in his shining blue eyes.

“I want you.”

He wasn’t used to being so forward, not about this. Normally, he might have beaten around the bush a little more. Or, actually, if Barry was entirely honest with himself, he could admit that normally he would have never even shown up here tonight, to begin with. He would have wanted to do it, but he wouldn’t have had the confidence to.

But tonight, that didn’t matter. Even if Barry made a fool of himself, even if Snart laughed him away, it didn’t matter. Neither of them would remember it after tomorrow anyway. It would be as though it never even happened. There’d be a whole new timeline, a whole new history between them, a whole new relationship. And that was even _if_ they knew each other, which they very well might not. So, if there was ever a time to put himself out there, today was the day to do it.

“I thought we’d already been through this, Barry,” Leonard said, sitting forward in his seat, leaning his elbows on the table in a mirror image of how Barry was seated. And the look in his eyes… it was intense.

Barry nodded, refusing to break eye contact or back down. “Yeah, we have. And I get it, okay, you are who you are. But tonight, I don’t care who that is.”

“I find that difficult to believe.”

“Why else would I be here, Snart?” Barry asked. “I have no disillusions about what I’m getting myself in for.” And that was just one more tryst with an enemy who he should hate, just to get it out of his system before he went back in time and erased it all.

Still, Barry worried that he was making a mistake by coming here tonight. The risk that Snart would find another way to betray Barry or use this night against him was significantly lower, given what Barry’s plans were for tomorrow. But he would be lying if he said there was no chance at all that tonight would backfire on him. There was always a risk that Leonard might turn this night around for the worst, but Barry liked his odds regardless.

Snart continued to stare him down before he, finally, nodded.

“Well, I can’t say I haven’t been thinking about that vibration trick you pulled,” Leonard said, almost casually. He nodded again and stood. “Follow me.”

Snart turned and started walking away, so Barry scurried to follow after him, gaping in surprise as Leonard walked right on through the gate at the bar, past the bartender – who didn’t so much as even give them a second look – and up the stairs.

“Do you own this place?” Barry asked as he followed behind. Leonard didn’t even so much as glance his way.

“No, but Leonard Wynters does.”

“Wynters?” Barry laughed, partly because he genuinely found it amusing, partly because he was just so damn nervous and the laughter helped to slightly ease the turmoil in his chest. “Cute.”

Snart smirked over his shoulder as he opened the door and stepped inside. “I thought so too.”

Barry followed afterwards, and Leonard closed the door behind him. There was something vaguely unsettling about being up here, though Barry wasn’t able to put his finger on what exactly it was, not as first. The apartment was well lit and reasonably decorated, it smelt clean, it was warm but not too hot despite the summer heat. It looked to be just about what Barry would expect for something sitting above a business.

And that was what it was, Barry realised. They were standing above a busy bar, but the noise floating up was negligible; no music, no jeering customers, nothing.

“Should I be worried about why you needed such good soundproofing?” Barry asked, but Snart just shrugged it off, appearing unconcerned about Barry’s train of thought.

“I like my peace and quiet is all.”

Barry hoped that was the full story, he sure didn’t like to think what the alternatives might be.

Leonard passed Barry and sat down on the sofa, smirking.

“Now, why don’t you come take a seat,” Snart said, patting his lap enticingly, “and we can… talk.”

Barry felt embarrassment flush through him, though he shrugged it off by reminding himself that this was what he was here for. _Snart_ was what he was here for. Barry didn’t have to worry about judgement or consequences tonight… he could just let all of that go and do whatever the hell he wanted.

So, he kicked his sneakers off and pulled his shirt up over his head. He threw the garment to the floor and looked back to Leonard again. The criminal was eying him hungrily, his gaze fixated on Barry’s abs for a moment before he slowly drew up Barry’s half-naked body back to his face.

Only then, when they made eye contact again, did Barry speak up.

“I didn’t come here to _talk_ ,” he said.

Barry felt nervous as he stepped up to Leonard and knelt down onto the sofa, pushing himself forward so that he was straddling Snart’s lap, but he tried to shake that away. Tonight was about doing something for himself; and this, having Leonard Snart underneath him, was exactly what Barry wanted.

Snart’s hands rested on Barry’s thighs, his thumbs rubbing slow, teasing circles there. Barry placed his own hands on the back of the sofa, either side of Snart’s head, caging him in. Leonard seemed content to let him take control tonight, and Barry was more than happy to do just that.

He leant down, hovering his lips only inches above Snart’s for a moment, letting the tension build before he surged to close that gap and capture Leonard’s mouth.

Snart pressed back up against him eagerly, his tongue coming out to swipe at Barry’s lips, rough and warm and demanding. Barry was all too happy to open up to the kiss, to push in even deeper and take what he wanted.

And what he wanted was Snart, every God damn inch of him.

Barry shifted on Leonard’s lap, rolling his hips down against the warm body beneath him. He couldn’t get close enough, though, not at this angle. He couldn’t get any friction against his hardening cock; though perhaps that was for the better – for now, at least – because Barry wanted to draw this whole thing out. The other day at STAR Labs had been a rush, and Barry had loved every single second of it, but he didn’t want it to end so quickly this time.

If tonight was going to be the last night on earth – in this timeline, anyway – then Barry was going to make the most of it.

So, even as his cock swelled up untouched inside his pants, even as he began to leak pre-come, making his briefs so damp that Barry could feel them sticking to his skin, Barry didn’t touch his own dick.

Instead, he touched _Leonard_.

Barry brought his hands down Snart’s body, slipping underneath his shirt and running his fingers against Snart’s heated skin. With his thumb, he rubbed harsh, rough circles against Snart’s nipple, all the while Barry was dominating his mouth with his tongue. Leonard’s hands cupped Barry’s ass in retaliation, squeezing him nice and firm. Barry gasped and rolled his hips back against Snart’s kneading hands.

 _Christ_ , he wanted Leonard to touch him all over. He wanted his _tongue_ on him again.

But he could wait, and God _damn_ it would be worth it!

Barry stopped rubbing Leonard’s nipple long enough to tug his shirt up and over his head before carelessly dropping it into the floor.

And then Barry took a moment to sit back and appreciate the man beneath him. Unsurprisingly, Snart had a few scars on his chest and torso, signifying the hardened criminal that he was. Barry didn’t mind that though because, as it turned out, scars were _hot_. Or maybe he only thought that because they were painted across such a stunning canvas?

Leonard Snart was beautiful, and so was his body. He wasn’t quite as toned as Barry was – but, hey, Barry wasn’t one to judge about that; he only got this body because of his superpowers, after all – but there was an awful lot of muscle packing out that frame.

Then Snart lifted his arm to cup Barry’s jaw, guiding his head down to meet Leonard’s lips again. And the way that his bicep flexed and bulged, looking taut and firm… it sent a shiver down Barry’s spine, settling in his dick long before their mouths met again.

Barry kissed back fervently, his tongue roaming Snart’s mouth while his fingers traced the lines in his skin, the hard muscles and the rough scars alike. Eventually, Barry’s lips began to wander away from Snart’s mouth, across his jaw, down his neck. Liking, and biting, and sucking hot hickeys onto his skin.

All the while, Barry was doing his best not to grind his hips down, to gasp out in pleasure, to let his powers overtake his body.

But then Snart spoke, his voice thick with that overexaggerated Central City drawl of his. “So, about that vibrating?”

“You mean this?” Barry asked against Leonard’s neck before finally allowing the speedforce to creep across his skin. Snart gasped loudly, his hips rocking up against Barry while his fingers dug deep into his hair. “You like that?” Barry goaded, dropping his hand down onto Leonard’s lap, palming his dick through his jeans. Barry started vibrating his fingers, and Snart’s jaw dropped open in a silent scream.

Barry took the opportunity to delve inside and claim Leonard’s mouth again with his tongue. He kept his hand resting in between Snart’s thighs, petting his erection as he vibrated on and off in pulses. Barry broke the kiss, resting his forehead against Snart’s as the older man moaned breathlessly against him.

“It would feel even better if was inside you,” Barry promised, finding it a little easier to voice what he wanted now that he’d turned Captain Cold into a trembling mess underneath him.

Snart nodded, visibly trying to pull himself back together again. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

Before he could register what was happening, Snart had switched their positions, and Barry found himself on his back, spread across the sofa with Leonard hovering over him. Snart dipped down, delving into his mouth while his hands found the button on Barry’s jeans.

The next vibration that wrecked through Barry’s body was entirely out of his control, lightning racing deep inside his muscles as Leonard’s fingers grazed against his erection.

Barry just about had time to dig the small tube of lube out of his pocket, blushing as Snart glanced down and smirked. He didn’t have the chance to make a comment about Barry coming prepared tonight, though, as Barry was quickly dragging him back into a kiss, keeping his lips far too busy for needless taunts.

The jeans and briefs Barry wore underneath were quickly tugged from his body, their kiss only breaking when it absolutely had to. And then Barry found himself naked on the couch, completely bare in a way he hadn’t yet been in front of Snart before. Barry pushed away his self-conscious nerves as he saw the way Leonard was watching him, kneeling between Barry’s legs, a look of unbridled desire across his face as he devoured Barry’s body with his eyes.

Barry felt another vibration humming through his body, licking his parched lips as Snart made fast work of his own jeans. He managed to hitch them down low enough to expose his ass and free his cock, but he didn’t get chance to remove the garment completely because Barry was too busy pulling him back down against his body. He’d aimed to kiss Leonard, but that plan quickly went out the window as their erections brushed, hot, naked, and weeping with pre-come. Barry gasped out a moan into Leonard’s mouth as he wrapped his thighs around Leonard’s body rocked his hips upwards desperately.

He barely managed to calm and slow down again, remembering that tonight wasn’t about a quick release. It was supposed to be about indulging in every desire he had with Leonard Snart; creating a night to remember, even if it was one that he was destined to forget come tomorrow. Tonight was his last night on earth, and Barry was determined to make the most of it.

So, with great effort, he stilled his hips and reached for the lube instead, coating his fingers generously while Leonard kissed and licked and bit at his jaw.

Barry ran his hands down the slope of Snart’s perfect ass. He pinched and kneaded the muscle there with his left hand, separating his ass cheeks while Barry pressed two fingers against Snart’s hole. He didn’t push inside yet though, he just stayed there, rubbing circles against Snart’s rim, making him all wet and bothered. Barry turned his head and licked back inside Leonard’s mouth as he played with his puckered hole.

Every now and then, he would press just hard enough that the muscle would open up to his slick fingers. He’d push the very tip of his finger inside, just enough that he would feel soft skin give away to hot, raw muscle. But then Barry would pull away again at the last second, leaving Leonard moaning complaints against his lips while his hips alternated between pushing back to chase Barry’s fingers or forward to grind against his naked body.

Barry could have stayed like that for hours, teasing Leonard, building him up higher and higher, but his own cock was weeping between them and begging for attention. He didn’t think he could keep up these teasing touches for much longer, so desperate as he was to plough his cock into Leonard’s tight sweet hole and have his way.

So, after a couple of minutes of taunting touches, Barry finally pressed inside. Leonard’s hole was open and eager, greedily taking both of Barry’s fingers right away.

“Finally,” Snart muttered against Barry’s lips, and Barry laughed as he felt the older man’s leaking cock twitch between their bodies.

“I thought you were a fan of taking things slow,” Barry goaded.

“Not tonight.” Snart’s voice was surprisingly breathless as Barry fingered him open, unable to keep his cool, and Barry wished he could have made that joke aloud, but then Leonard’s fingers wrapped around his cock and stole all the words from his tongue. And despite how eager Barry was to take his time tonight, he ended up a spluttering, shaking mess in a matter of moments.

Barry dragged his fingers in and out of Leonard’s hole at a strong, steady pace until he just couldn’t take the wait any longer, until his body was aching with the need to bury himself inside of Leonard. And Snart seemed to be feeling the same way, as eager to get this thing going as Barry was, pushing his hips down against Barry’s fingers, silently demanding more.

“Fuck,” Barry muttered, nodding. “ _Fuck_ , okay, yes.”

Snart knew exactly what his babbling meant as his eyes darkened, and his smirk widened. He grabbed the lube and had coated Barry’s cock in it before Barry’s fingers were even out of his ass yet.

Barry held tightly onto Leonard’s hips, encouraging him as he scooched forward and lowered himself down on Barry’s aching erection, steadily taking in each inch and enveloping Barry in the heat of his body. And it felt fantastic.

At first, Barry bit back his words, but then he remembered that he didn’t have to. He didn’t have to hide how he was feeling, didn’t have to be embarrassed. This was his night, their night, their _only_ night. Where was the sense in holding anything back?

So, he didn’t. He allowed moans and praises to fall from his lips as he pulled Snart down against him, their mouths meeting in a fiery, breathless kiss while Leonard rolled his hips down against Barry’s cock.

Lightning licked at Barry’s skin, sinking deep into his bones while Leonard repeatedly fucked himself onto Barry’s swollen dick, their shaking bodies gliding together on the couch.

Barry’s kisses trailed away from Snart’s mouth and across his jaw instead, scraping his teeth down Leonard’s neck and latching onto the soft skin on his shoulder. There was a scar there, rough and ragged, but Barry barely even noticed it against his tongue, _wouldn’t_ have noticed it if it wasn’t for the way Snart tensed – though he didn’t slow his hips down for even a second as he continued to fervently ride Barry’s cock.

Instead, he pulled back, pulled out of the reach of Barry’s lips, anchoring himself with one hand resting on Barry’s torso while the other clutched at the back of the sofa beside them. Barry reached for him, wanting to roam his hands all along Leonard’s glorious body – battered and scarred, but no less beautiful. But he had to just be content with holding Leonard’s hips and stroking his thighs, gazing up at this man who should be his enemy and yet was now intimately familiar with his body in a way no one else had been in years.

The new angle gave Leonard better room to be faster and more brutal, moving his hips up and down and taking Barry’s dick like it was an Olympic sport. And it felt so good, it felt like Barry’s every nerve was alight. He wanted to kiss Leonard again, but he couldn’t. So he just continued to fuck his hips up into Snart’s body, rolling his hips in time with Leonard’s and burying his swollen dick repeatedly in and out of his body, all the while he whimpered, and moaned, and let his every thought and praise run off his tongue.

He told Snart how amazing he was, how hot, beautiful even… He told him how good he felt wrapped around Barry’s dick, how intense and tight. He quaked, and he vibrated, and he dragged his nails down Leonard’s thighs, desperate for something to cling onto.

And then he came with a cry and a shout, and the vibration that wrecked through him hit so hard that he brought Leonard with him – both of them blurring with the height of their orgasms.

And then when Snart had taken every drop of Barry’s come, he collapsed on top of him; and they lay there, sated and sweaty and exhausted.

[] [] []

Len was absolutely speechless.

If he’d thought that getting a handjob from the Flash was going to be the best sexual experience of his lifetime, he was delightfully mistaken. Having Barry’s hands on him yesterday had been amazing. Still, it was nothing in comparison to having Barry _inside_ him, writhing and vibrating, and lighting up nerves inside of his body which he hadn’t even known _existed_.

Len had never experienced anything like that before. It was… it was indescribable.

He would have thought he’d died and gone to heaven but, well, if God _was_ real, Len very much doubted that he’d be welcome there.

Still, he was sure that heaven would have _nothing_ on how it felt to be fucked by a speedster, so who cared?

After a moment or two – or… ten? Christ, Len really had no idea how long he’d been lying there, blissed out and panting away like a dog in heat – Barry shifted and eased his softening cock out of Len’s hole. Len tried not to tense or wince, even as the feeling pulled uncomfortably at the muscles deep inside his body. It was _so_ worth the mild discomfort, though. Having Barry inside him, thrusting hard and fast, vibrating his cock in Len’s hole… he wanted it just like that again, and again, and again. But he also wanted to bury his own dick inside Barry’s body to reciprocate all the amazing thing’s he’d done to Len tonight.

Well, most of them, anyway. Of course, Len wasn’t actually capable of vibrating his junk, but he was sure he could make it feel great for Barry anyway.

Len sighed, feeling so content even as he and Barry were both squished together on the couch… Len would have to remember to take things to the bedroom next time. Or perhaps just buy a bigger sofa? He didn’t want to limit their options, after all. But despite how uncomfortably close they were crushed in together, Len wasn’t bothered by it enough to roll away and stand up. Hell, even if he _did_ want to get some more space, he didn’t think his legs would be physically capable of carrying his weight right now. They felt like jelly.

Barry was quiet beside him, and Len was still too stunned to talk, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was peaceful and warm, so nice that he was struggling to keep his eyes open. After an orgasm like _that…_ all Len really wanted to do was lie completely still and go to sleep.

“You know, Snart…” Barry started to say, but Len grimaced at the name. Talk about a buzz kill.

“Call me Len.”

Barry paused and blinked up at the ceiling above as though that name just didn’t compute with him. It was kind of funny to watch, actually, though Len purposefully didn’t smile when Barry turned to meet his gaze.

“Okay… _Len_ ,” Barry tried, sounding a little unsure of the name still, but shrugging anyway. The movement jostled Len a little as he was still lying on top of Barry’s body, so he instead rolled onto his side and slotted himself at the back of the sofa while Barry started speaking again. “I probably shouldn’t have come here tonight, but I’m glad that I did.”

“I’m glad you did too,” Len admitted, and Barry’s eyes lit up with a smile for a moment, the green sparkling beautifully even in Len’s dimly-lit room. Though maybe that was just in Len’s head? Because it only lasted for a couple of seconds, just long enough for Len to say: “Though I’m not entirely sure why you’d come back for more after how things ended the other night.”

Len wasn’t entirely sure why he’d said it when it was a sure-fire way to kill the mood, but he was just too curious to let the question running through his head go unanswered.

Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t anger that filled Barry’s eyes now, but something a damn sight more wistful. He sighed and shook his head.

“It’s a long story.”

Len nodded and made the conscious decision not to pry any further – not tonight, anyway – even though he was more intrigued now than ever before. But the truth was that Barry didn’t owe him anything, and even the thought that he might be tempted to open his heart up and unload his woes was beginning to make Len feel uncomfortable. Not because he didn’t want to hear Barry’s story, but because he _did_.

It was obvious that they needed to toe the line here. They were – at the very best – nothing more than enemies-with-benefits. So, they needed to start acting like it.

And just as Len reminded himself of that, Barry’s stomach started to grumble.

“I hope you’re not expecting breakfast,” he drawled, casting a purposeful glance over the back of the sofa and into the sparse kitchen beyond. “This place isn’t exactly equipped to deal with that.” Unless, of course, Barry was happy to eat a bowl of dry, likely stale, cereal. Len hadn’t used this apartment as a hideout in months – it was too well-known now, too easy for anyone to track him down – so, even if there was anything in the fridge at all, Len wouldn’t trust it. He turned back to Barry. “And anyway, I’m not the kind of man who you wait around ‘til the morning with.”

“Is that your ever so polite way of telling me to get lost?” Barry joked, not looking at all dismayed by the dismissal, which was encouraging.

“Well, maybe not _lost_ ,” Len corrected, pointedly running his eyes down Barry’s bare body, and enjoying the sight. “I certainly wouldn’t mind if you happened to find your way back here on another cold and lonely night.”

“Cold?” Barry laughed, pushing himself up onto his elbows on the sofa. “It’s over 70 degrees out tonight.”

Len grinned. “Well then, maybe you might need to come on over and let me cool you down.”

“Tempting offer,” Barry said. It was clearly supposed to be a joke, but his tone of voice betrayed the truth behind those words, even as his eyes became distant and his lips thinned in a way that suddenly had Len feeling… _worried_. He couldn’t say what it was exactly in Barry’s expression, but Len got a distinct impression that he might never see the kid again. Len deliberately dismissed that train of thought, though Barry’s following words did nothing to ease that warning bell going off in Leonard’s head. “But I wouldn’t hold your breath on it.”

“Well then, if you really don’t plan on returning –” and Len wasn’t thinking about what that could mean. He _wasn’t_. Because he didn’t care. Barry was his enemy and nothing more “– perhaps I could persuade you to stay an extra hour or two?”

Barry smiled but shook his head, and Len pretended that he wasn’t disappointed. Though he _really_ did want to tick a couple of positions off his sexual bucket list with the Flash…

After another moment passed, Barry pulled himself out from underneath Len and sat up, grabbing his briefs off the floor before standing to pull them on. Len propped himself up on his elbow, watching Barry’s every move while he then grabbed his skinny-fit jeans and tugged those over his legs, hopping around just ever so slightly to pull them up. In fact, for a moment, Len thought Barry might actually fall over. He laughed at that, and Barry blushed as though he could read Len’s mind.

Barry didn’t speak though as he continued to dress, pulling his socks on and slipping into his shoes while he grabbed the shirt from the floor. He held it in his hands, staring silently down at the fabric for a moment before finally lifting his gaze back up to Len.

“You know, this…” Barry shrugged. “This wasn’t as bad an idea as I thought it would be.”

“I’d say you suck at compliments if I hadn’t already had an earful of it tonight,” Len drawled, a smirk spreading across his lips. “Maybe you just need a bit of encouragement to loosen up that tongue of yours.”

Barry laughed at that, the sound pleasant and oddly comforting. But then he got this very distant look in his eyes, and his smile seemed to become tainted with sadness.

It was a few seconds before he finished tugging on his shirt, and they made eye contact again.

“Goodbye, Len,” Barry said. And the way he spoke… It sounded like this was a true farewell. It sounded final.

Len nodded, and then Barry turned and left. One second, he was there, the next he was just gone, leaving behind an air of static and a gust of wind. Len pretended that he didn’t care about whatever it was that the kid was about to do. He didn’t care if he never saw the Flash again.

But he knew that was a lie.

And it wasn’t just because Barry was the best goddamn lay Leonard had ever had, though that was definitely something to factor in. But going up against the Flash these last few months… it had changed Len’s life, made him think and act differently, made him up his game and truly become one of the biggest players Central City had ever seen.

Len could still be Captain Cold without the Flash being around, but it wouldn’t be the same without Barry there to challenge him.

He shook those thoughts away, though. There was no proof that Barry was about to go out there and do something dangerous – except, of course, that Barry’s whole _life_ was dangerous – there was no proof he was about to get himself killed.

Barry would be fine.

And if he wasn’t… Well, Len told himself that was none of his concern.

He pulled himself up out of his sofa; he showered, and dressed, and left down the fire escape to avoid being spotted. Len knew that plenty of the patrons in the bar downstairs had seen him and Barry go up, and he didn’t like to think of the questions it would raise if he went back down alone. Len figured that none of them would have noticed the Flash blasting through there a moment ago – Barry could be pretty discreet when he wanted to – all they would have felt was a wind blowing in from the door. And that was even if Barry had left through the bar instead of just running through one of the walls and down the side of the building like Len had seen happen plenty of times before, though he was still pretty mind-boggled about how the Flash managed it…

But, the point was, Barry had more sense than to expose himself to a bar filled with criminals, and Len had faith that he would do whatever it took to keep suspicions to a minimum. Still didn’t mean that Len could take the chance on leaving through the main exit. And, anyway, climbing down the fire escape gave him the breath of fresh air that he really needed right now. A nice cool wind to clear his head as he made his way to where he’d parked his bike and rode it home.

The next day, Len decided to distract himself from thoughts of Barry Allen by robbing a jewellery store.

It was just a simple job, but it made Len focus, and that was what he needed right now. He decided to play it clean and didn’t allow any of the store workers to trip security measures and alert the cops. He didn’t want the Flash to get wind of this.

But when Len was leaving the store with his loot all tucked away nicely, he discovered that there was no reason to worry about Barry swinging in to save the day. The Flash had bigger things to worry about.

A black hole was opening above the city, devouring cars, and tearing buildings apart. And who was there running directly into the catastrophe? Barry Allen.

Len’s instinct should have been to run… Not that there was anywhere that he could have gone to escape getting swallowed up into the abyss if Barry was unable to stop it, but standing so close to the thing as it steadily demolished the whole city probably wasn’t his safest option. If the black hole itself didn’t kill him, the cars and rubble being thrown up into the atmosphere just might. There wasn’t too much activity outside the store he’d just robbed, but the circumference of the impact zone was growing by the second and the wind whipping at his body was picking up a lot of speed. Len needed to leave and leave now. Get as far away as he could and pray to a God that he didn’t truly believe in that it would be far enough.

Instead, he stared up at the growing vacuum of darkness, and he waited.

Another hero joined the fight against nature, a man on fire who flew up to the centre of the void in the sky. Len couldn’t really tell what happened after that, but there was a blast of light, and then the black hole receded in on itself and vanished.

And Leonard was finally able to breathe again.

He thought he saw that spark of lightning which signalled the Flash’s movements continue on down to the ground, but it was difficult to say for sure. He was still standing out in the open in front of a store he’d just robbed, so Len got out of dodge pretty quickly after that. He had questions – a lot of them – but he figured he’d find out the answer to those soon enough, so Len left.

A couple of days passed, and Len couldn’t get Barry out of his head. From all accounts, the kid was still showing up for work, or at least he was in his day job. But the Flash had been a little absent lately. And Len wasn’t going to say that he was worried, per se, but he also wasn’t entirely at ease.

He liked to know what was going on in his city.

No, Len _needed_ to know. Central was filled with metahumans, heroes and criminals alike, and the only things that Len had were his cold gun and his wit. His power wasn’t one born from the particle accelerator explosion, it was of his own making. Len had power in this city because he was smart about it, he knew when to attack, and he knew when to lay low.

But right now, Len didn’t know enough. He didn’t know what had happened to cause that black hole, he didn’t know how the Flash was affected by it, or even if he was.

Len didn’t know enough, so he went to find the only person who might be willing to give him some answers.

STAR Labs was in an even worse state now than it had been after the accelerator exploded. Parts of the building and at least half of the pipeline was just… gone. Len stood outside of the building and figured it was just best to turn around and leave because surely there was no one home. There were no cars in the car park, no signs of life inside, no lights or movements that Len could see. But he supposed that didn’t necessarily mean the place was abandoned. It was late afternoon now, but the sun was still in the sky, shining down on the desolate building.

Len didn’t know if there was anyone inside, but he decided now was as good a time to find out as ever. Because if Team Flash weren’t operating from here anymore, then where _were_ they? He needed answers, and the best place he could think to start was STAR Labs. So, he moved to the side door and picked the lock, he was inside in seconds. This part of the building was still intact, so Len moved through without issue. He moved towards the elevator and up to the floor where Barry and his team usually converged. Unlike the ones below, this corridor was entirely windowless, and Len was surprised to discover the lights were in fact switched on up here.

And, more than that, there was noise. Len followed the sound of what appeared to be a drill towards the cortex, finding Barry there, alone, fitting a new window in place. The room looked mostly intact, but there were two additional windows in the cortex that also looked to have been shattered by the force of the black hole above. Barry hadn’t touched either of those yet, though all the glass and dust had been swept up into a corner and the cortex was looking relatively neat in the wake of the recent catastrophe.

Barry’s back was to the doorway, so he didn’t notice Len appear as he struggled with the drill, looking like he’d never used one before; perhaps he hadn’t. Len decided to just stand back and watch, not feeling the need to announce his arrival just yet. No one else appeared to be in the building, only Barry, who was working away while dressed in a suit of all things. And not even a well-fitted suit, either. It was about as generic as they came; shop-bought and untailored.

Len supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by that… Barry’s taste of style appeared to be entirely focused on sweater vests and sneakers. Though it did look good on him. Anything could have looked good on Barry Allen, though. Even that damn ridiculous red condom – as Mick liked to call the Flash suit – didn’t look quite so bad when Barry was in it and smiling.

He certainly looked better without it, though. He was packing a surprising amount of muscle despite his slim frame, muscle which Len would very much like to run his tongue over.

Barry released the trigger on the drill and turned to place it down on a table. But when he finally saw Len leaning there in the doorway, he jumped back in surprise, and the drill whirled momentarily to life again.

“Shit,” he cursed while Leonard laughed. Barry switched the drill off fully before crossing his arms and staring Len down. “What are you doing here?”

Len considered not answering and instead playing things cool, using a more subtle approach to gain the answers he needed from Barry. But he dismissed that idea soon enough as he noticed the rigid set to Barry’s shoulders and figured the Flash might just get fed up and kick Len out of here if he beat around the bush.

“I was simply curious…” he shrugged, pushing himself off the wall and stalking around the desk to come face to face with Barry. “You see, it turns out that the Flash chose to spend his last night on earth wrapped up in Captain Cold’s bedsheets.” Barry was blushing, and it made Len grin. “I suppose I should be flattered.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The black hole?” Len prompted, and Barry’s gaze dropped to the floor, looking guilty. He appeared tired too. So very exhausted, as though he’d been awake for days.

It didn’t make him look any less beautiful, though.

“I… didn’t know that was going to happen when I saw you.”

“But you knew _something_ would happen,” Len said. Barry just shrugged and fell silent. “Come on, Scarlet, I’m not an idiot.”

Barry didn’t look as though he was going to speak, turning away from Len to look back at the window he was attempting to fix. He was clearly feeling reluctant to speak up about _anything_ , and Len could understand that; he could. After all, even after having slept together twice, they weren’t exactly close.

Len probably didn’t deserve to know what was going on in Barry’s life, and he definitely shouldn’t _want_ to know.

Yet, he still stood there, waiting, and hoping for an answer.

Eventually, Barry sighed down at the floor, though he didn’t turn back to face Len as he spoke. “I went back in time to try to save my mum’s life.”

Len was instantly overcome with the urge to laugh. He didn’t though,

“Time travel? How exciting,” he muttered instead, his voice perhaps a little mocking. He was sure that the Flash was pulling his leg and that any minute he’d just start laughing.

But Barry only tensed up further. That was when Len really thought about what Barry had said, and he started to frown because…

Trying to save his mother? Surely Barry wouldn’t lie about that…

And when Barry finally turned back around to face Len, the heartbroken expression on his face only backed up what he’d said.

But that didn’t add up.

“Then what was with the teary goodbye?” Len asked. If Barry had been about to save his mum’s life, surely, he wouldn’t have been so tense.

Barry blinked at Len, speechless for a moment. “I– There weren’t any tears.”

“I don’t know, Barry. There was definitely a bit of mist in those beautiful greens of yours.” Somehow, even with the tragedy that Barry had just been through, Len still managed to make him blush. Maybe that – his ability to disarm Barry – would work in Len’s favour, and get him the answers he wanted? “So, what was it, hmm?”

Barry sighed again and shook his head, though it seemed to be aimed at himself because he didn’t look like he wasn’t going to answer Len’s question. Instead, he just seemed to be putting everything into place in his head, weeding through it all before he could properly explain whatever complicated mess he’d got himself into.

He perched himself onto the edge of a nearby desk, staring down at suit shoes for a moment before eventually lifting his gaze back up to meet Len’s eyes.

“If it had worked… it would have created a new timeline, so this one…” Barry trailed off, but Len thought he got the gist of it.

“Would have been erased?” he asked. Barry’s response was just a meek shrug. “That’s an awful lot of power for one little guy to have.” A frightening amount of power, actually. But Len decided not to focus on that right now. So, he smirked. “And when I say little, I mean scrawny, not…” His eyes wandered down, pointedly, to Barry’s crotch, and he winked.

Barry looked unsure what to do with himself and how to hold his body, blushing wildly.

Len considered that perhaps it shouldn’t have been so easy to brush away the whole ‘Barry erasing and rewriting history’ thing – and the thought that the lives of himself and everyone else in this timeline could just be reset on the whim of a superhero was definitely going to give him some sleepless nights for a while – but he was always good at rolling with the punches. And life was short, after all, but Len had made the most of his. He’d never let anything hold him back; he didn’t have any ‘ _what if_ ’s. Len was unapologetically flawed in a lot of ways, but at least he could honestly say that he’d lived his life to the fullest. He wasn’t waiting until he was old and grey – okay, grey _er_ – to do the things that would make him happy. He did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He didn’t have any loose ends to tie up in life… So, perhaps that was why it was a little easier to look past Barry’s confession and get his mind right back on track with what he _wanted_.

And what he wanted was Barry Allen.

Len leant forward on the desk in front of him and smirked, deliberately roaming his eyes across Barry’s figure before lazily going back up to meet his gaze.

“I think this is my least favourite of your suits.”

“You prefer the Flash kind?” Barry asked, sounding sceptical even as he fell right into Len’s little trap.

“I prefer the _birthday_ kind.”

And there was that delightful blush again; to think that this was the very same man who had dominated Len’s body only a few nights ago… It was unreal.

 _Barry_ was unreal.

“So, what do you say, Scarlet?” Len asked, staring directly into Barry’s shining green eyes. He winked. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

Len would have liked to say that was a calculated gamble, that he’d known Barry wasn’t going to turn him down… but that was all a lie. The truth was, Barry Allen was the biggest enigma Len had ever met, and he had no idea what the kid was going to do next. He was just as likely to kick Len out of the door than he was to take him up on any kind of offer.

And even when Barry rushed forward and pushed him up against a wall, Len still wasn’t sure which decision he’d come to. Whether he was after a fight or a fuck…

Being a hero, Barry probably should have chosen the former. But perhaps he was as lonely tonight as he looked because it wasn’t a fist that met Len’s jaw, but a kiss instead.

Len pressed just as eagerly back against Barry’s lips, tearing that horrible suit off him before they fucked each other right then and there on the cortex floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I have to say is ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Barry’s relationship with Leonard Snart was becoming complicated.

He had only tracked Len down that night in Saints and Sinners because he hadn’t thought that it would matter, one way or the other. He was changing the timeline so who cared if he took the opportunity to sleep with Captain Cold one last time?

But then he _didn’t_ stop his mother’s death. And now, those consequences that he’d thought he was avoiding? Yeah, they were coming back to bite him on the ass.

But not in the way he’d expected.

Len hadn’t used their relationship against him, he hadn’t betrayed Barry’s trust or set him up for embarrassment, he hadn’t even goaded Joe with what Barry had done to Len in that bar. Instead, Len had searched him out and made sure he was okay. Or… Barry _thought_ that was what Len had been doing when he’d shown at STAR Labs last week. He’d brushed it off by saying that he was there to get answers but… something just didn’t quite feel right about that.

Maybe he’d only been there to have sex with Barry again? That was definitely a possibility. Yeah. Yeah, that had to be it.

And that was good because sex was exactly what Barry wanted from Len. Though he shouldn’t, not anymore.

When Barry had tracked Leonard down again at Saints and Sinners, it was supposed to have been the last time. But that had all gone out of the window when Len had shown up at STAR Labs. Barry had been in pain – he was still in pain now – and Snart had offered him the perfect outlet for it all. So, he’d very literally jumped Snart’s bones then and there in the middle of the cortex. _Multiple_ times, actually, in an array of different positions that had hit just about every nerve Barry had inside his body.

It had been spectacular, and everything that Barry had needed to get his head back on straight.

Except… it was kind of difficult to keep your mind clear when you’d played a part in the death of two of your best friends’ partners, and the destruction of half the city. Not to forget that his dad was still in prison because he’d never got Wells’ confession. And none of it was even remotely worth it because he hadn’t even been able to save his mother’s life!

It was a lot.

And possibly one of the worst things about it was that none of his friends blamed him even a little. Iris didn’t tell Barry that he should have been faster to stop Wells so that Eddie didn’t have to sacrifice himself. Caitlin didn’t tell him that he should have never gone back in time, should have never risked everything and everyone in existence to save his mother. In fact, no one blamed him for the singularity at all. Sure, they’d had it stable before the paradox surrounding Eddie’s death had torn it back open again, but that didn’t absolve Barry’s part in its creation.

Barry had a part to play in each and every one of these disasters, so why didn’t any of his friends blame him?

And why didn’t his dad blame him for choosing not to save his mother’s life? Or for not getting that damn confession while he’d had the chance?

Barry’s mind was stuck circling around and around these questions day in and day out, and the only thing which had been able to silence it lately had been Leonard Snart. So, Barry just kept on going back to him. He kept on tracking Len down over and over again – usually at the bar, sometimes at a random safe house, once Len was just walking down the street when Barry raced by and scooped him up – and then they would waste a few hours of the day fucking each other senseless. And only then could Barry really find any peace from his own spiralling thoughts.

So, when the mayor went on the News one day, exactly two weeks after the singularity, and personally applauded the Flash for saving the city… Barry just couldn’t take it.

He went to see Len.

However, when the reading for the cold gun placed Len in a residential area rather than at the bar or in some random warehouse, Barry hesitated. He was a little worried about what he might be walking in on.

For one, it was just as likely that Len was robbing the place rather than living there. And for two… if it was Len’s house… he didn’t like the idea of just showing up there uninvited. Barry worried that might be pushing things a little too far, choosing to track Len down in public was a lot different than tracking where he lived. What if Len didn’t appreciate the intrusion?

But, really, Barry didn’t have any other way of getting in touch with Snart. It wasn’t like he had the criminal’s phone number and could just ring him up for a booty call whenever he felt like it. So, his options were limited.

In the end, he decided to just try his luck at the house.

He arrived at the neighbourhood and found it calm, pleasant, perhaps even friendly. It wasn’t anything like where Barry might have pictured Captain Cold living. And when he found the house in question which Cisco’s tracker had singled out, Barry was _sure_ that there had to have been some sort of mistake. The house had a pebbled footpath across neatly trimmed grass, adorned with shrubs and flowers. It even had a white picket fence! There was no way that Leonard Snart lived here, _no way_!

But it also didn’t look big enough or ostentatious enough to be a place Len would choose to rob. So, what gives?

Feeling uncertain, Barry pushed open the gate and walked up towards the front of the house, raising his fist to knock on. The door had a panel of frosted glass, so Barry could see the outline of a tall, broad man walking towards him inside, but he still couldn’t say for sure who it was until Len open the door, frowning.

“I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised you could find this place,” he said. Barry smiled, feeling a little nervous as he waited to see if he had, in fact, crossed the line by showing up here today. But Len just pushed the door open further and invited him inside, allowing Barry to enter before closing it again behind him. “So, are you here for business or –” Leonard ran his eyes down Barry’s body and smirked, “– _pleasure_?”

Barry didn’t know how to answer that in a way that wouldn’t leave him stuttering and blushing, so he instead pushed in further and cupped his hand around Len’s jaw, pulling him closer until their lips met. The kiss was brief but no less dirty than any of the ones they’d previously shared, and when it broke, Len started to grin.

“In that case, I’ll cancel my plans.”

“You had plans?” Barry laughed. “I thought you’d need friends for that.”

“Ouch.” Len pouted, pulling out of Barry’s hold, though the look in his eyes still remained playful. “Well, what I lack in friends, I more than make up for in banks to steal from.”

“Wow, you’re giving up on all that for me?” Barry goaded, though he wasn’t entirely sure if Len was telling him the truth or not. “You really know how to make a guy feel special.”

Len gave him a flat look. “Do you wanna have sex or not?”

It wasn’t exactly a threat, and he figured that Len wasn’t about to go kicking him out of here anytime soon… But Barry decided not to press his luck any further.

“I’ll shut up,” he nodded with a tight, nervous laugh. But that seemed as though it wasn’t the answer Len was expecting because his eyebrows soon drew together. Len studied him for a moment, and Barry did his best not to squirm or look guilty underneath that attention. He tried not to show that he was here physically and mentally running away from his problems…

He didn’t know how effective that really was but, after a moment, Len shrugged anyway.

“Well, don’t keep those lips zipped too tightly,” he drawled, leaning into Barry’s personal space to whisper: “I like to hear you scream my name.” It sent a shiver down Barry’s spine.

He was expecting Len to kiss him then but, instead, he stepped back and winked like the God damn tease he was. Barry only shook his head, mildly amused but mostly just disappointed. Len was a good kisser. But he knew they would get to that soon enough.

In the meantime, Len moved to grab his cell phone from the coffee table and sent off a quick text to someone. Barry didn’t ask who, but he suspected it was to Mick to cancel whatever plans they had this afternoon. Barry took a moment to look around at what he could see of Len’s house.

The layout seemed similar to Joe’s, with the front door opening directly into the living area and a staircase to the right which would lead upstairs. Barry was sure he’d get plenty of chance to see up there today, but right now he just glanced around the living room. It was surprisingly warmly decorated, most of the walls painted a rich grey, all except the vivid dark green at the back. The sofas were large and made of a soft brown leather, adorned with green and blue cushions and a matching throw.

It was absolutely nothing like Barry would have pictured and about as far from the scarcely decorated safehouses that Barry had visited up until now. This was an actual, honest to God, real home.

Barry realised he probably shouldn’t be shocked Len had one, but it was surprising, nonetheless.

As he looked around, he noticed the TV was on and switched to the local news station. And just as Barry looked over there, the news anchor changed and they started doing a memorial to the lives lost during the singularity.

Len noticed and immediately switched the TV off, but if his goal had been to keep Barry from seeing it, then he was too late. And it wasn’t just the reminder of the singularity that had Barry’s stomach dropping to the floor, nor the devastating blow as he saw the many pictures on screen of people whose lives had been lost that day. It wasn’t just that he’d seen Eddie’s face flash up there, the same picture from the police academy that was hung up in the precinct.

It was all of that, yes; but it was also that _Wells’_ face had been up there too. And seeing his image again filled Barry with so much rage, and sorrow, and regret that he felt physically sick.

And yet, Harrison Wells was the person who was most often talked about whenever the news discussed the devastation that the singularity had caused. He had pretty much become the public face of the tragedy. Which was ironic, not only because the black hole hadn’t caused his nor Eddie’s deaths – though that was what they’d reported to the police as it was easier than explaining what had _really_ happened that day – but also because Wells had as big a part in creating the singularity as Barry did.

And while Barry was here, tormented by the mistakes of his past, the man masquerading as Harrison Wells simply would not have cared. He was Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, and the man who Barry despised more than anyone else in the entire world. And now he was gone.

Barry would never be able to get justice for his mother. He’d never be able to get his dad out of prison.

The Reverse Flash was dead, and the news was talking about him as though he’d been a good and honest man, as though he – above everyone else who died that day – was the man whose passing the city should mourn.

Barry wanted to throw up.

Len was keeping a close eye on him now, studying him for any signs that he was about to break down. Barry didn’t want to do that. He was stronger than that, Goddammit! He was…

He was fine.

Though Len didn’t seem to get that message.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sounding actually, genuinely concerned. Though was that just an act? Barry couldn’t say.

They hadn’t spoken much about the singularity since that night in STAR Labs. Len had questions, of course – Barry would think it was weird if he didn’t, you know, considering they were talking about literal time travel here – but he’d kept asking them to a minimal. Probably because he knew how much the topic ate Barry up inside. Though he wasn’t sure whether Len actually cared about that, or if he only cared because it brought the mood down.

But Barry wasn’t going to do that now. Not here. He nodded to answer Len’s question and assure him that he was okay. Because he was…

He was…

was …

He was _not_ fine. Not in the slightest.

But he _wanted_ to be.

He wished that he could just put this whole mess behind him, but he would never be able to escape this catastrophe that he’d caused. This was all his fault.

Barry wanted to smile and brush everything off to think about some other time when he was better equipped to cope with it all, but he couldn’t even bring himself to do that, not even with the fakest smile that he could muster. It was all just _too much_!

“I came here to get away from that,” he grumbled, and Len nodded as though he understood. Barry wanted to roll his eyes then, because how could Leonard Snart – _Captain Cold!_ – possibly understand the kind of guilt he was going through?!

“Are you really sure that I’m the one you want to be with right now?” Len asked, still with that concerned tone to his voice. “I’m sure your STAR Labs pals will give you a much warmer shoulder to cry on.” Except there was no one else _in_ STAR Labs anymore. Barry had forced them all out last week by making it clear he didn’t want their help. He didn’t want _anyone’s_ help; he didn’t want to put anyone else he cared about in danger.

Len didn’t know that, though.

“If I’m crying,” Barry countered, “it’s only because of your terrible puns.”

“Oh, so they’re tears of joy, then? Well, that changes everything.”

Despite Len’s words, the worried look remained in his eyes, and Barry was getting pretty sick of it. He didn’t come here to talk, he came here for a distraction!

“Are you going to fuck me or not?” he asked because standing here and getting pitied by a criminal was not Barry’s idea of a good time.

“When you say it like that, it just zaps all the fun out of it,” Len said, but he didn’t seem to be turning the offer down either, so Barry waited. “I’ll tell you what, let me take you somewhere instead.”

He was very nearly struck speechless at that. Leonard couldn’t be suggesting what he _thought_ he was, could he?

“What? Like a date?” Barry asked cautiously. So far, what they’d been doing was about as far from ‘ _dating_ ’ as you could get.

“That’s not exactly how I would put it,” Len said, and Barry sighed in relief. What they had going on was complicated enough as it was. “I just think you could do with slowing down a little, take some time to smell the roses, and all that. It would make you a much better bedfellow than the state you’re in right now.”

Barry still wasn’t too sure how he felt about that, but he didn’t have that many better offers right now. His choices were to either go with Snart or just return home to wallow in self-loathing. Barry chose the former.

“Fine, whatever,” he said, and Len grinned wide. He nodded his head to a door at the back of the room, and Barry followed him through into his garage, surprised to see a sleek black car in there, never having seen the criminal driving it before. But Len ignored the car completely in favour of his bike. He took the keys and pressed a button to open up the automated garage door.

When he turned back to Barry though, he frowned. Len examined him critically under the natural light streaming in through the garage door, probably taking in the bags under his eyes and the heavy slump to his shoulders.

Finally, Leonard asked: “If I let you on the back of my bike, you’re not going to fall off, are you?”

“Very funny,” Barry muttered, despite knowing that Len looked and sounded entirely serious. But it was just easier to brush the whole thing under the rug as though it was a taunt instead of coming from a place of genuine concern.

Barry had enough worry coming from Joe and Iris and the others, he didn’t need it from Leonard Snart too.

Len frowned for a moment longer before shaking his head and moving to open a cabinet in the room. Barry couldn’t see what was inside from the place he was standing, but Len grabbed something and walked back to press it into Barry’s hands: a helmet.

A _bright red_ helmet with gold lightning bolts stencilled onto the sides.

“Did you get this custom-made?” Barry laughed, and Len shrugged. He didn’t say anything, but the smirk on his face spoke a thousand words. “What did they say when they saw Captain Cold was the one to pick it up?”

“I guess they were just too star-struck for words,” Len drawled, and Barry rolled his eyes.

Len’s helmet was hanging from the bike’s handlebars; it was open-face like the one he’d passed Barry was, but Len’s didn’t have a design on it. It was just a simple, classic black helmet which looked to be the same one he had worn the night when they’d first had sex.

The night that Len had betrayed him and broke the metas out of their transport.

Surprisingly, the memory didn’t leave even a tinge of bitterness on his tongue, not anymore. Barry had made so many mistakes that week that it was a relief that this one, at least, he hadn’t been able to complete. He was happy that he didn’t have to live with the knowledge that he’d shipped five people off to be illegally imprisoned on a semi-abandoned island.

Len slung his leg over the bike and tugged the helmet into place before turning his smirk towards Barry.

“Hop on,” he drawled, patting the seat behind temptingly.

Barry did just that, feeling a thrill shoot up his spine as his hip slotted in against Len’s ass. Barry had maybe, kind of, always had a thing about Len and this bike. They’d featured in many of his dreams, long before he’d started sleeping with the criminal. So, sitting on the back of here now, his legs pressed in tight against Len’s… it was a dream come true.

Len turned the key, and the engine roared to life, so Barry pulled his helmet on. Len waited until Barry had wrapped his arms nice and secure around his body before he kicked the stand up and they drove away, the garage door closing behind them.

The ride was quite gentle and slow, to begin with, as Len drove through hustling streets and daytime traffic which was just beginning to get busier as they approached the afternoon rush hour. At one point, he slowed the bike down to a stop in front of a crosswalk and a bunch of little kids ran across the road, one of them stopping to smile and wave at Len in thanks. Barry was surprised and amused to see Len actually wave back.

“What?” Len asked in response to Barry’s short huff of a laugh, the sound of his voice surprising Barry as it echoed out of speakers inside his helmet. “Don’t tell me the Flash hates kids.”

“ _The Flash_ ,” Barry said, “loves kids. I just didn’t peg _you_ as a kid person.”

“What are you talking about, Barry?” Len asked as he started the bike rolling again, taking his time getting up to speed. “You’ve pegged me plenty.” Oh, Barry should have expected that. He shook his head and said nothing as the ride continued. “Hold on tight,” Len warned a minute later as he turned onto the freeway. Barry didn’t know how much tighter he could hold on, but then Len knocked the bike down a gear and sped up fast.

For a moment, Barry’s adrenalin made his powers kick in, and the whole world slowed to a crawl. It was silent and peaceful like this, being the only person in the world who could think, and talk, and move. It was calming.

But, in a lot of ways, it was also lonely. Even sitting here next to Len, or even if he was surrounded by all of his friends, he was alone.

Barry shook himself out of that thought. He closed his eyes, and he took a deep breath, and he let the world start revolving again.

The sound of the engine filtered back in, the rush of wind against his body, the gentle push and pull of Len’s body beneath him as he breathed in and out. Barry opened his eyes, and he relaxed against Len’s torso, and just enjoyed the rest of the ride.

It wasn’t too much longer until they’d arrived at their destination. Len pulled the bike up to a large fence and entered a few digits into a security pad to unlock it. The gate rolled open, and Len rode in, pulling up at the end of a large driveway overlooking…

Huh.

“I have to be honest here,” Barry said as he pulled his helmet off his head. “When you said you wanted to take me somewhere, I wasn’t expecting the beach.”

“Not a fan?”

Barry stood from the bike. “I mean… I’m not, _not_ a fan, I just didn’t really picture _Captain Cold_ sunning it up is all.”

“Well, even supervillains need a day off, Barry,” Len drawled. He took Barry’s helmet from him and pinched the straps together again before hanging it and his own on the handlebars of the bike. He stood up, but instead of moving away from the bike, Len turned back to it and took a few seconds to rock it backwards and put it onto the centre stand rather than the kickstand.

Barry leant back against the corner of the half-wall they were parked next to and watched, frowning. It took a little effort, but once Len was done, the bike was standing completely upright and looking a lot more stable.

“What’s that for?”

Len shrugged. “You’ll see later.”

“It doesn’t look like it’ll make a quick getaway once whoever owns this place come back.” And shouldn’t it bother Barry a little more that they were trespassing right now?

Len dared to look offended. “Who says _I_ don’t own it?”

“Well, for one,” Barry said, shaking his head and feeling a flutter of amusement beginning in his chest. “I don’t believe you _own_ anything.” Len hummed.

“Finders keepers?” he tried, and Barry rolled his eyes.

“Nice try.”

Len laughed then. He turned back to overlook the private beach before removing his boots and socks, but Barry hesitated before copying. Len noticed and sighed.

“Don’t worry about the owners,” he said, getting the conversation back on track. “They’re in France right now. So, no one’s going to show up and kick us out of here, I promise.”

He wasn’t sure how much Len’s promises really amounted to – he wasn’t exactly a trustworthy guy.

But Barry trusted him anyway.

God help him… he did. So, he kicked off his sneakers and stuffed his socks inside them, rolling his skinny jeans up a bit at the ankle before moving to join Len on the sand. It was hot under his feet and sinking in between his toes, but not _scorching_ hot. The day was warm, but not warm enough for the sand to burn Barry’s skin. He nodded at Len, and together they walked down the sloping beach to the water beyond.

It was a small beach. Or maybe it was large considering it was entirely fenced off? Except, of course, from the gate that they had just entered through… The beach was completely private with the grand house behind them, and tall cliffs either side, caging it all in. It was quiet and peaceful, with nothing more than the sound of waves crashing against the rocks; but that was far away, the water here was relatively calm.

They only went a few paces down until the beach began to flatten, and then Len stopped, dropping his boots into the sand before shrugging out of his leather jacket and dropping that too. Barry did the same with his own shoes and jacket, all the while looking out at the crystal blue waters beyond. It was a stunning picture and, despite the fact that they were definitely trespassing, it was instantly calming.

Barry found himself smiling, surprised to realise that perhaps an afternoon in the sun was exactly what he needed today.

Though it could have certainly been better.

“If you’d told me we were coming here, I probably would have packed some shorts,” he muttered, feeling the heat from the sun attacking him through his denim-clad thighs. “Skinny jeans aren’t exactly the perfect beach clothes.” Not to mention how much time he was probably going to waste over this next week trying to clear the sand from his sneakers. He should probably just throw them away and buy a new pair; it would be easier.

“Then take them off,” Len said, as though it was just that simple. Barry huffed a laugh and shook his head before turning to find that Leonard was doing _exactly that_ , undressing right there on the beach.

He pulled his shirt up over his head, not seeming to care right now that it exposed his scarred torso, and dropped the garment down on top of his leather jacket. Then, Len’s fingers found the button of his jeans, and Barry couldn’t take his eyes away as Len let the material drop to his ankles.

Len turned a wink Barry’s way before hooking his thumbs underneath his briefs and pushing them down his legs too, leaving him completely naked in the warm, open air. Barry openly gawped at him, but Len appeared entirely unabashed as he kicked the clothes into a pile where they wouldn’t get blown away.

“I’m going for a swim,” Len said. “You can either sit here complaining about your jeans, or you can come join me.” And then Len turned and left, his perfectly sculpted ass a view that Barry had seen many times by now. But never like this.

Barry tried to list reasons why he _shouldn’t_ go skinny dipping in the sea with Leonard Snart, but he couldn’t keep his mind on track long enough to start.

As Len’s naked body slinked into the glistening water, Barry hurried to pull his shirt up over his head and struggled out of his tight pants. He couldn’t help but feel self-conscious as he hiked his briefs down his legs, even though Len was the only other person in-sight. Still, Barry raced to the water at superspeed, not slowing down again until he was standing right beside Len, the water reaching halfway up their torsos. It was a little cold, but not too bad. Not bad enough that Barry was worried about being there naked.

Well, he _was_ worried about that, but for different reasons. The main one being that, although they were on a private beach right now, someone might show up and catch them in the act. The sea was still the sea, after all. There was always the chance that someone might drive past on a boat, or a jet ski, or – God forbid – while _scuba diving_!

So, yeah, Barry was nervous about doing this. But then Len reached out to him, hooking his hand around Barry’s waist, and pulling their bodies together. In the water, Barry could feel _all_ of Len’s body pressing against all of Barry’s, and it felt better than it had any right to feel. Len kissed Barry’s neck as his hand palmed Barry’s ass, and it didn’t take long at all until Barry’s racing heart was due to an entirely different reason.

His worries were pushed back as Len’s hands, his tongue, his _body_ filled the forefront of Barry’s mind.

Barry’s cock was the first to arise, though he felt Len join him not too long later, his dick pressing insistently against Barry’s hip. Len led him over towards a large rock sticking out of the water, large enough for them to lie down on. Barry hopped up first, but Len didn’t join him right away.

Instead, Len smirked up at him, his blue eyes glistening mischievously in the sunlight, before he lowered his mouth down around Barry’s weeping cock.

And as great at kissing as Len was, he was even better at blow jobs. He sucked Barry down, bobbing his head along the length of his erect dick, bringing him right to the very edge, until Barry was a shaking, screaming, vibrating mess.

Then Len pulled away, grinning even as Barry whimpered and complained, begging for more.

Len climbed up onto the rock, crawling over Barry, his erection red and angry and untouched. But it didn’t stay that way for long. Barry took Len in hand, and they worked each other over until they came with a litter of curses on their tongues, all swallowed up by the crashing of waves around them.

And then Len collapsed on top of Barry, the both of them panting away while the sun shone down on their moment.

[] [] []

After they’d come together, Len lay on the rock for a little while as he tried to catch his breath. He could feel the heat from the sun biting against his exposed skin, and it was a little uncomfortable. But frankly, he just felt too damn good to move.

Barry, always the faster one to recover – and Len was putting that down to the kid’s powers rather than Len’s age – soon dipped back into the water. He said it was because he wanted to wash off, but Len could see the nervous energy that clung to his every movement. He figured that Barry had never done anything like this before: trespassing on someone else’s land, skinny dipping in the ocean, having glorious sex out in the open where just anyone might be able to stumble across them.

The Flash wasn’t quite as innocent and law-abiding as he let on, but he did have a strong view of right and wrong, and this little day trip was undoubtedly pushing those boundaries now. Len was enjoying that, coaxing Barry into indulging his dark side a little more and reaping the rewards for himself. It was pretty great.

Though a little romp in the sea wasn’t the only thing that Len had planned for tonight.

Len licked against his parched lips and grimaced at the taste of seawater. Though it was only a fraction of what he’d lapped earlier while licking up Barry’s cock, it somehow tasted worse now. Perhaps because before he’d been too aroused to care before? But without Barry’s body next to him, the taste of saltwater had become a lot more unpleasant.

But Len was sure he could find something to wash it down with.

Len smirked as he dove back into the water. Barry hadn’t got too far away, so Len went up to join him now, swimming underwater for a moment as he reached out for Barry’s body and playfully bit him on the ass. Len could hear Barry’s shout of surprise before he even resurfaced, laughing.

“Dick,” Barry muttered, even as he reached out to wipe the seawater from Len’s eyes. He made to kiss Len, but then almost instantly pulled away again, making a face at the saltwater clinging to Len’s lips and tongue.

“Want a drink?” Len offered, staying within Barry’s arms even as the younger man refused to kiss him.

“Please,” Barry nodded, but then he frowned as he cast his eyes back towards the beach. “Did you bring something with you?” he asked, and Len resisted a laugh.

“No, but –” he nodded towards the house “– I’m sure they’ll have something worth our time.” As expected, Barry dropped his hold on Len and took a step away, his movements slowed in the water they were standing in, coming up to their chests.

“Sneaking onto their beach is one thing,” Barry said, sounding unimpressed. “But breaking and entering is too much. I’m not okay with that.”

“And stealing,” Len added in. “Breaking, entering, and stealing.” Barry crossed his arms, unhappy, so Len shrugged. “What if I told you this beach and that house belong to Osgood and Rachel Rathaway?” he asked, waiting for a second to see how Barry reacted. Barry’s frown softened a little, his shoulders drooping a fraction, even as his jaw became tenser. Clearly, he was having a bit of an internal dilemma right now.

Because on the one hand, stealing was wrong.

But on the other hand, the Rathaways were _famously_ homophobic and, in Len’s opinion, deserved to be knocked down a few pegs.

Len smirked, inching closer again in the water. He wrapped his hands back around Barry’s waist – loosely at first, giving the kid plenty of time and space to pull away again if he wanted to; but he didn’t – and then dipped them lower so that he was cupping Barry pretty little butt.

“Don’t you think it would feel good to go in there and take something from them?” Len asked, his voice low and sultry, whispering against Barry’s ear. “You can even play a little Robin Hood if you’d like.”

“Are you really trying to talk me into robbing someone?” Barry laughed, though he didn’t sound anywhere near as annoyed as he had done earlier. Len shrugged.

“Well, if you’re against that, we could always just have some deliciously gay sex on top of their kitchen counter.”

That managed to break the last of the tension, and Barry let out a loud laugh, grinning.

“It’s not like they’d ever know we did it,” he pointed out, and Len nodded.

“You’re right… I should leave them a note.”

“Len!”

“Come on, Barry. Do you really care about these assholes and their property?” he goaded. “We don’t have to take something big… just a bottle of wine, a couple of towels, maybe a little bit of food.” Barry’s stomach grumbled at the mention of food, and Len grinned.

“Fine,” Barry finally gave in. “But only because I don’t want to spend all night naked in the ocean.”

“And here I was thinking you were having fun.”

Len kissed him again. And, again, Barry pulled away a second too late with an unpleasant downward twist to his lips at the taste of seawater.

“And also, because I really don’t want to taste that all night,” Barry added on, and Len laughed.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, pinching Barry on the ass before pushing away from him and swimming back up towards the beach.

He grabbed his leather gloves and an army knife from his jacket pocket, then he continued on his journey up to the house. Len had managed to get the override codes for the security system – he’d been planning this for a while – so it was as easy to disable the alarm as it had been to open the gate earlier. And the lock itself only took seconds to get passed.

Then he was in the house.

His first stop was the cupboards in the living room, opening and closing the drawers until he found a pad of sticky notes and a few pens. Len laughed to himself as he went around the house, distressing furniture and leaving little notes, pretending that he and Barry had fucked all over the place. It was – unsurprisingly – a lot of fun.

Len spent a few minutes doing that, even going as far as to leave ‘mysterious’ stains on the fabric furniture. He dropped a note next to one of them which just read “ _Whoops”_.

Finally, Len got bored and threw the pen and pad to one side, deciding to get back on task.

He was soon back on the beach, his arms filled with fresh towels, two bottles of wine – one red and one white because he didn’t know which Barry would prefer – and a selection of treats he had pinched from the kitchen. Before Len had even finished dropping all of his pilfered goods into the sand, Barry had zipped out of the water and wrapped a towel around his waist.

“Over your crisis of conscience, I see,” Len drawled while he removed his gloves. He was less fussed about covering up and instead just rolled a towel out and sat down. He opened up some expensive-looking chocolate truffles and popped one into his mouth before using the corkscrew on his army knife to open the bottles.

“Do you just carry that around with you?” Barry asked as he sat down beside Len on a second towel. Though Len couldn’t care how many towels the kid used up, he’d basically emptied the Rathaways’ entire pantry.

“Pretty much, yeah,” he admitted and took a small swig of the red wine. Just enough to start washing away the lingering taste of saltwater. “Don’t worry, it’s clean. I pretty much only use it for lock-picking. Knives aren’t really my style.” Not that he was opposed to using one in a fight if he needed to, but he would much rather send someone off with a little more flourish. Though he didn’t do much of that anymore either, not since he’d made his deal with Barry back in those woods.

Thinking back on that deal now, Len wondered if he ever could have predicted how the next few months would play out for them. How they would become tenuous friends and feverous lovers. Len figured that the answer to that question was a solid no.

“Good, I didn’t want to have to arrest you,” Barry said with a mouthful of stolen candy. Len just laughed.

He lay down then, rolling onto his side to face Barry as he picked away at the small feast he’d brought out, propping one leg up to create a bit of shade to shield his cock in from the sun scorching down on them.

Truth be told, Barry had been correct earlier… Len didn’t much care for the beach. The sun was too hot, the water was unpleasant, and the sand got _everywhere_. But he had been planning to come up here tonight anyway – he hadn’t been sure if the Rathaways would have much worth stealing stored up here in their beach house, but it had been more about pissing them off then making money tonight – so when Barry had shown up looking lost, Len decided he could kill two birds with one stone.

Well, _three_ birds actually… but that all depended on whether or not Barry went along with what Len had planned for sunset.

He supposed only time would tell there.

“So, what kind of notes did you leave?” Barry asked light-heartedly before he took another swig of wine.

Len grinned. “The raunchiest kind.”

Barry smiled at what he thought was Len’s joke, but then his eyebrows drew together as he seemed to notice Len wasn’t kidding.

“Wait, seriously?” Barry laughed. “I thought you were joking!”

“I’m never joking when it comes to making homophobes uncomfortable.”

Barry shook his head, sniggering a little more before he reached for the chips and began to dig in. Len frowned as he silently watched the speedster quickly devour half the pack.

“Hungry?” he questioned. Because, sure, he’d brought a lot of food back out with him, but he’d expected most of it to go uneaten. However, Barry had barely stopped chowing down to breathe.

“Always,” Barry nodded. “It’s a speedster thing. I burn up a lot of calories.”

Len hummed quietly at that. It made sense, but he’d never considered it until now; with the amount of energy that Barry used up… it was a wonder he was ever able to stop snacking. That was interesting, though definitely not as interesting as the fact that Barry had just offered this information up freely to Len without so much as a second thought. And then there was the fact that Len didn’t even think about using it against Barry…

He was sure that he could find some way to put this information to good use when it came to his next fight with the Flash, but Len didn’t want to do that.

Using something he’d found out while they were together now – as Len and Barry rather than Captain Cold and the Flash – just seemed wrong. And not ‘ _wrong’_ in the way that sneaking onto this beach and stealing some food and wine was technically not a legal thing to do, but ‘ _wrong’_ in the sense that Len didn’t _want_ to do it. He didn’t want to betray Barry’s trust.

Not in this way.

It was at that point, watching Barry shovel chocolate truffles into his mouth, that Len realised he actually kind of liked this kid. He was fun to be around, smart, interesting, amazing in bed. It wasn’t exactly a surprising discovery – Len had already known Barry was all of those things – but it did seem to settle differently now in Len’s mind. He had been thinking that this thing he and Barry had going on was some complicated entanglement between enemies, but perhaps it was more straightforward than that. Maybe they were simply friends with benefits.

“What?” Barry asked, as he eventually noticed Len staring at him. Len just shrugged and reached for the wine again. He took another drink – just a short pull to wet his lips, conscious of how he’d have to drive them back home in a couple of hours – and then lay down again.

He closed his eyes for a little while, content with just listening to the soft roar of waves against the cliffs which surrounded this little beach. The sun was dropping a little lower in the sky now, and Len noted that its rays were significantly softer against his skin now than they had been a few hours ago when they’d first arrived here.

Barry continued to snack for a little while, but then Len heard him start to shift around and reposition the towels. Finally, Barry lay down beside Len, close enough that the fuzzy mess of hair on his head was brushing against Len’s shoulder.

Len didn’t really think of himself as a cuddler, especially not when the weather was as hot as it was today. But he’d learnt this week that Barry definitely did enjoy cuddling up. He seemed to enjoy the feeling of someone else’s skin pressed against his own, even in a non-sexual context. Len didn’t really understand that; he hadn’t taken comfort from someone else’s touch in… well, Len didn’t even know how long it had been, or if he had ever enjoyed it to begin with. He just wasn’t all that tactile of a person, and that was okay.

But, perhaps just this once…

Len lifted his arm and slung it over Barry’s shoulder, inviting the younger man to press in closer, which he did. Barry took whatever comfort he needed from Len’s body, and Len… well, he didn’t love it, but he didn’t particularly hate it either, so he just allowed it to continue.

They napped there together for a little while.

Before Len knew it, a couple of hours had passed. He was woken by a chill in the air, the wind picking up speed and the sun increasingly losing its heat the closer it got to nightfall. The short nap had messed with his internal clock and Len blinked around, trying to figure out what time it was based on the position of the sun. He figured they still had at least an hour until sunset, but Len wanted to be sure.

Barry was still lying against him, fast asleep, so Len did his best not to jostle him awake as he reached for the pile of clothes nearby. His hand wrapped around a cell phone buried between layers of material and Len picked it up. It wasn’t his phone, but he clicked the button to check the time anyway.

He nodded, happy that he still had time this evening to rest before the _main event_ – as he had come to think of it. Len was looking forward to it; though, frankly, he had genuinely enjoyed the whole day so far. Who would have thought that the Flash showing up at his house unannounced could be so fun?

Len could admit that something would have to change about his and Barry’s relationship, and it needed to happen sooner rather than later. He couldn’t just have the Scarlet Speedster tracking him down and showing up whenever and wherever he felt like it. Sooner or later, Barry was going to walk into something he’d wished he hadn’t.

They needed a better way to manage this. And, as he lay there with Barry’s phone in his hand while Barry himself clung onto his chest, Len figured he had the easiest solution to that problem.

Len clicked on the screen again and was prompted for a passcode. He had a few guesses at what the code might be, but he decided to try something else first instead.

Gently, without waking Barry, Len lifted his hand just enough to press his thumb against the centre button, and the iPhone immediately sprung to life.

Len felt like rolling his eyes at the confirmation that _the Flash_ had bought into the whole fingerprint ID shtick; you’d think that someone who unquestionably had such sensitive information on his phone would take better precautions to keep it safe. But at least it saved Len some time and effort, so he wasn’t going to complain.

And if he didn’t have such a congenial relationship with Barry, he might have been tempted to start snooping through his files, texts, maybe even his pictures to identify any possible weakness. But Len didn’t care about doing any of that today; he wasn’t about to go betraying their unspoken boundaries. Instead, he went directly to Barry’s contacts and inputted his own phone number. He sent himself a quick text so that he’d have Barry’s number too, and then he buried the phone back underneath the clothes to keep it out of the sunlight. Though the wind blowing was certainly adding an extra chill to the air, it wasn’t going to do anything to keep their cell phones from overheating and damaging in the sun.

Len lay there for a while with Barry still tucked nicely under his arm. He didn’t often enjoy laying around and doing nothing – it felt like a waste of time – but today, Len just allowed himself to appreciate the rest.

Eventually, the cool breeze got too strong for him to ignore, though. He had to move to get dressed, and that woke Barry up. Though he didn’t seem to mind as he quickly pulled his own clothes back on too. Afterwards, they ate a little more food, and drank a little more wine, and made out a little in the sand.

Then Len went back inside and grabbed a bucket which he filled with bleach to clean down all of the wrappers and the outside of the wine bottles, removing their DNA and fingerprints before he upended the bucket directly onto Rathaway’s carpet.

The night was coming to an end now, and Barry waited for Len patiently on the half-wall next to his bike, overlooking the beach. The blue sky was turning orange and pink and even a darker purple at the edges, the colours reflected on the water like a mirror. Sunset was finally here.

Len went to take the back seat on his bike, and Barry frowned. Len just tapped the room he’d left at the front of the motorcycle and beckoned Barry forward to take the seat. He did.

“I can’t ride a bike, you know?” Barry muttered as Len wrapped his hands around the speedster’s waist. Len laughed. Barry might not be able to ride a bike, but he was certainly very good at riding something _else_.

“You don’t need to,” he purred before lightly nibbling on Barry’s ear until he began to relax against Len’s body.

Leonard kissed Barry’s neck, and Barry sighed happily, angling his head away to one side to expose more of his skin and give Len more room to work with. Len gladly accepted the invitation, running his tongue and teeth down the slope of pearlescent skin beneath him. Barry moaned while Len bit down a little harsher, working a hickey against his neck.

One of Len’s hands ran down the front of Barry’s body, coming to rest at the waistline of his jean, idly playing with the button there as he continued to suck and kiss and bite against Barry’s flawless skin. Len’s other hand lay across Barry’s chest as he rubbed soothing circles with his thumb against Barry’s nipple, which Len could feel hardening through the thin material of his shirt.

After a moment, Len leant forward and forcefully adjusted Barry’s position, pressing his chest down a little lower to bend over the bike’s handlebars, and pulling his hips up a little higher on the seat. Barry didn’t offer up any kind of complaint, moaning breathlessly as Len roamed his body with deft fingers and tongue. But then Len rolled his hips forward, grinding his pelvis forward against Barry’s ass.

Barry moaned and whimpered.

“Someone could see us,” he said, and Len would have shaken his head if he wasn’t currently biting a giant raw hickey against Barry’s shoulder. He sucked the skin there into his mouth, lavishing it with tongue, and then biting down again. All the while, he kept on rolling his hips against Barry’s ass. Len’s erection began to stir to life, but he wasn’t alone as he felt Barry’s cock swelling up from where his hand was still resting at the front of Barry’s jeans. Len popped the button open, dragging the zip down Barry’s crotch to free his raging cock from its denim confinement.

“I have to admit,” Len said, finally finished with the hickey on Barry’s shoulder, knowing that it would take at least a few hours for it to fade away, and that was good enough for now. “I had an ulterior motive for bringing you here today.”

“You wanted to grope me on your bike,” Barry guessed with a laugh, and Len shook his head.

“No, Barry,” he drawled, his thumb playing with the pretty little head of Barry’s cock, smearing his pre-come around and around as he continued to thrust lazily against Barry’s ass. “I want to fuck you on this bike.”

“You can’t be serious,” Barry groaned, even as he made no move to stop Len’s groping hand or rolling hips. Len could see the blush spreading across the back of Barry’s neck, and he grinned.

“As frostbite,” he drawled and shrugged. “A beautiful cloudless day like this… the sunset over that water is going to make quite the backdrop as I bury my cock inside you, don’t you think?”

Barry moaned and thrust his hips forward against Len’s hand. His cock was weeping and twitching already.

Len sucked another nice wet hickey on Barry’s neck as his hand dipped further to stroke down the length of his erection. Barry moaned and gasped. His heart was racing erratically, and Len could feel it through the hand he still had pressed against Barry’s chest, though he moved that hand down now, too. He slipped it under the bottom of Barry’s shirt and all the way back up again, both of his warm, rough palms gliding against Barry’s skin. One of them steadily working Barry’s cock over while this one went back to his nipple, pinching and rubbing it with his thumb.

Barry vibrated, and Len bit off a moan of pleasure as it lit up his skin at every single place they touched. He bit down a little more harshly against Barry’s neck, his thighs wrapping tighter around Barry’s as he rolled his hips back and forth, his dick thrusting against Barry’s ass and yearning to be released from his jeans.

Len picked up his pace on Barry’s cock instead, pumping harder and faster until Barry was a hot, sweating mess beneath him.

“Do you want to come?” Len whispered against Barry’s ear, and Barry groaned, nodding, his hair tickling the side of Len’s neck. “Come for me.” Len tightened his grip just a fraction more around Barry’s dick while he stroked it up and down, faster and faster, encouraged as his lover vibrated in his arms. “Come for me, and then I’ll fuck you nice and hard, just the way you like it.”

And then Barry did, his orgasm took over and unloaded his hot come over Len’s fingers.

Len collected all of it and then encouraged Barry to push forward and hike his pants down far enough to expose that lovely ass for Len.

He used Barry’s come in place of lube as he slid one finger past Barry’s tight rim with one hand as his other began to milk his cock again. Pushing and pulling, making Barry shiver and vibrate out in pulses while Len rubbed against his prostate. Len pressed his second finger in almost immediately, doubling down on that intensity. He bit his lower lip as he watched Barry’s greedy hole eagerly accepting Len, the man himself moaning and vibrating in bursts while Len pushed his fingers deeper and deeper.

“You like that, huh?” he whispered. “You like me inside of you, even out here in the open.” Well, maybe not ‘ _open_ ’ considering they were still very much closed off from the rest of Central City and its beaches. But they were certainly not hidden away, either. It wouldn’t take much for someone to find them; to climb one of the cliffs surrounding the beach, perhaps. Or to drive here from down the road behind… It wouldn’t take much for someone to stumble upon this scene, Barry spread out across the handlebars, his ass pressing against Len, grinding back down on Len’s fingers as he wordlessly begged for more.

“Oh, you’re such an asshole,” Barry muttered, and Len laughed.

“Not from where I’m sitting,” Len drawled, dragging his fingers in and out of Barry’s hole to make a point that _he_ wasn’t the ass in this scenario. Not tonight, at least. Though, perhaps when they got back to the house if Barry felt in the mood to reciprocate…

Len pressed a third finger inside, and Barry vibrated out against him. The sensation feeling great around Len’s fingers, though he knew it would feel even more spectacular around his cock in ways that words just couldn’t describe.

Len could barely wait for that, to press his dick inside Barry and fuck him over the handlebars of this bike while the sky above split into a million different hues like a damn painting. It was a beautiful scene, but not as beautiful as Barry was thrusting his hips back and forth between Len’s hand around his cock and fingers in his ass.

“God, just fuck me,” Barry whined, and it was like music to Len’s ears. He rubbed harshly in and out of Barry’s hole just a little more before finally dragging his fingers out.

He immediately went for the button on his jeans, opening it up with one hand while he continued to lazily stroke Barry’s cock with the other. And Barry… Barry was shaking, vibrating, beautiful. He stood just enough for Len to yank his pants down – though he, regrettably, had to stop pumping away at Barry’s dick to do that – and gave Len a pretty view of his wet hole.

Len steadied his own cock with one hand as the other gripped Barry’s hips and guided him back down. Down until his rim was pressing against Len’s cock, and then down further still until Len’s erection was planted fully inside Barry’s eager hole. It wasn’t as smooth a glide as normal, without proper lube it was just a bit rougher, but no less amazing as Barry pushed back until Len was buried balls deep inside of him.

Barry felt so damn good wrapped around him, so warm and tight. Len lost his ability to breathe for a moment, gasping for air that just wouldn’t come while Barry moaned and writhed, rolling his ass down on Len’s swollen cock.

“Shit,” Len gasped, having to forcibly still Barry’s hips to give him a moment for his body to catch up. Barry whined and moaned, desperate for Len to fuck up into him. But Len held him still for a few seconds more.

When he found the ability to breathe again, he used one hand to press down against the back of Barry’s shoulders, manoeuvring him into a better position, his chest down further over the handlebars of the bike to give Len a little more room. And as Barry’s chest went down, his ass eased slowly off of Len’s dick.

Len bit against his lip as he looked down and saw the beautiful sight of his own cock half-buried inside Barry’s puckered hole. He shifted his hips forward, his cock pressing back further into Barry’s ass, disappearing deep beyond that tight rim.

Barry vibrated around him, gasping and moaning, and Len joined in as the sensation enveloped his cock. _Christ_ , he wasn’t going to last long tonight.

Len slowly dragged his cock back out of Barry, watching it every single inch of the way. Then he tightened his hand on Barry’s hips and thrust his hips forward, slamming into Barry’s ass, hard and fast.

Barry screamed out in delight, curses falling from his pretty lips while he rolled back, meeting Len’s hips as he thrust in and out of his hole again and again. The bike was rocking underneath them, but they both managed to stay upright while Barry’s hole greedily ate up every inch of Len’s swollen dick.

“I want to see you,” Barry begged, and _fuck_ , Len was sure enjoying the view right now. But he couldn’t deny that he wanted that too.

“Up,” he commanded, and Barry obeyed, lifting up slowly as Len pulled his aching cock out of his hole. It got a little awkward as they switched positions so that Len was lying in the front seat, straddling it in reverse with his lower back pressed against the handlebars. He patted his lap as he got comfortable, his cock still swollen hard and standing to attention.

Barry looked positively lecherous as he kicked his shoes and jeans off completely before throwing his leg over the seat, facing where Len was splayed out and ready for the taking. Barry moved a little too quickly in his hurry to have Len’s cock buried in him again, and he nearly toppled off the bike. But he steadied himself on the wall beside them, and Len wrapped his hands around his hips, encouraging him forward.

“I can’t tell if this is the hottest or most awkward thing that I’ve ever done,” Barry grinned, and Len would have shrugged if he’d felt a little more stable.

“Can it not be both?”

Barry just laughed.

He positioned himself above Len’s cock, and Len got to watch his own dick disappearing again as Barry sunk down on it. That hot, tight hole fit so snug around his cock that Len moaned from having it back in place.

Barry leant forward, his hands finding the handlebars at Len’s sides as he gave a few experimental rolls of his hips. Len couldn’t help but reach up to kiss him, capturing his lips and tongue just like he’d been dying to do ever since they’d started.

Yep. Face to face was _much_ better.

Barry ground his ass down on Len’s erection slowly at first, his tongue licking lavishly into Len’s mouth. But he soon began to pick up speed, bouncing up and down on Len’s dick. And the faster and harder he went, the more difficult it was to stay lip-locked while they moaned and panted and gasped for air.

Len reached down between their bodies and took Barry’s cock back into his hand again, pulling roughly at him in tempo with the way Barry was riding his dick. They were both getting close now, and Barry’s vibrations were becoming more erratic and prolonged. And with every lick of lightning between their bodies, Len lost the ability to breathe again. His toes began to curl inside his boots, his free hand balling uselessly into a fist buried inside Barry’s shirt, as he panted and fought back his orgasm. He didn’t want this to end so quickly, didn’t want Barry to ever stop.

But, of course, it would. Barry was soon coming into Len’s hand and onto his stomach, his final vibration pushing on the edge of painful. Len came so hard then that his vision went white and he very nearly fell off the bike. In fact, he _would_ have fallen off if Barry’s hands hadn’t shot out to catch him before collapsing down onto his chest.

Barry continued to vibrate afterwards in light, shorter pulses, continuing on for the next half a minute while Len had to re-learn the ability to breathe. When he finally began to settle back into reality, he registered the pleasant slightly sloppy kisses Barry was pressing against his jaw and smiled, roaming one of his hands up underneath the back of Barry’s shirt and caressing his skin.

They stayed that way for a little longer before Barry eased himself of Len’s spent cock and they stood up.

Len pulled his pants back up and tucked himself inside; he was dressed again in seconds. But Barry looked to be taking his time. After pulling on his jeans, he sat on the half wall in front of the bike, facing out at the beach beyond as he tugged his sneakers on and fastened the laces. Len was feeling rather unhurried now, content to just sit here and wait and watch the last of the sun set beneath the water.

So that was what he did. Len leant forward, his elbows resting on the handlebars as he relaxed against them and watched the orange and purple in the sky fade into the deepening blue of the oncoming night. It was beautiful, and serene, and the colours glowed bright and glinted off of Barry’s skin and hair.

Len made no attempt to move, not even after Barry stood up and walked back to him, slinging his legs over the back of the bike and settling in behind him. Barry’s hands wrapped around Len’s torso, warm and shielding against the cooling breeze from the sea. He leant forward and rested his chin on top of Len’s shoulder, and they just sat there for a moment and watched the sunset together.

It wasn’t something that Len had planned to do, and a voice in the back of his head was telling him that this was pushing against a boundary he shouldn’t be messing with. But right at that moment, Len was too sated and blissed to care.

A few more seconds passed before he turned his head towards where Barry was resting against him.

“Read to go?” he asked, and the speedster nodded. Their helmets were both dangling by the straps from Len’s handlebars, so he picked them both up now and passed the red one back to Barry before tugging his own one comfortably over his head and fastening it below his jaw. He sat up straighter, started the ignition, switched on his headlights, and pulled the bike away from the wall and off onto the road home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bike sex?  
> Bike sex.


	4. Chapter 4

“ _Please_ ,” Barry begged, and it was like music to Len’s ears as he struck his hips forward, faster, harder. Barry’s nails were digging into Len skin where he clung on at Len’s shoulder and lower back. He was a panting, sweating mess underneath Len’s body; so goddamn beautiful.

Len delved down to capture Barry’s lips with his own as he fucked him open, their bodies moving together wildly and filling the bedroom with an orchestra of breathless moans, creaking bedsprings, and skin slapping against skin.

Barry dropped his hold on Len’s shoulder to cup the back of his head instead, tilting Len’s face the exact way he wanted it to deepen the kiss even further, the filthiest noises escaping his lips as Len continued to thrust into him. He was shaking underneath Len, the smallest of vibrations travelling out through his body. Len gasped at the sensation but then bit down on Barry’s lip punishingly.

“Not yet,” he demanded, and Barry whimpered in complaint. He was doing so much to hold himself back, Len knew, and that was a big deal considering how difficult Barry found it to control himself in the bedroom. But Len _also_ knew that the second Barry gave in and let his powers overtake things, it would all be over. Len didn’t want that, he wanted to stay buried deep inside Barry’s taut body for as long as possible.

Len pushed himself up on his elbows, pulling away from Barry’s eager lips. Barry’s hand fell from the back of his neck to grab at the headboard above them instead. Len ran one of his hands down Barry’s naked thighs, hooking him up over his hips and repositioning their bodies so that when Len thrust in again, he hit even deeper now than before.

Barry moaned out, throwing both of his legs around Len’s body and crossing his ankles, lifting his hips off of the mattress while Len drove relentlessly into his abused hole.

The headboard was banging against the wall with each of Len’s inward thrusts, the noise of it ricocheting through the bedroom. Len pumped his hips faster, pleasure coiling tight deep inside of him, tighter and tighter the harder that Len pushed himself. He could feel it sending sparks of pleasure down his spine, making his legs weak and his toes curls. Len held off for as long as he could as he pounded his cock into Barry’s open and needy body.

Barry was moaning, scratching against Len’s back, his legs wrapping tighter against Len’s ass to encourage him deeper and deeper inside. They were both at breaking point now, and Len couldn’t take it for a second longer.

“Do it,” he gasped out, and Barry finally let go. His vibrations wracked through Len’s body, wrapped around his cock. It flung him over the edge and Len was left seeing stars as he came inside Barry’s tight wet hole.

Barry continued to vibrate as he came too, losing control as he unloaded himself in between their bodies. Len collapsed down into it, not caring about the mess he was covering himself in as he just couldn’t keep himself held up any longer. Barry’s skin continued to vibrate and spark, and it felt so good against Len’s overstimulated nerves, though he quickly had to roll away before it became too much; which would happen, Len knew, because they had been doing this thing for a few weeks now.

Len could still barely believe it, though. Of all the people Barry could be sleeping with, he chose Len.

It made sense, of course. Despite the chaotic nature of their relationship as Captain Cold and the Flash, Leonard was one of the only people who actually knew Barry’s secret identity. He would struggle to keep his powers contained with anyone who didn’t know, and he probably didn’t feel like going out to hook-up with people as the Flash and keeping his mask on. He _could_ do it – half of the city was wet for the Scarlet Speedster – but he probably wouldn’t.

That meant that the circle of people who Barry _could_ sleep with was just small enough that Leonard seemed like a good option. And, well, Len was _not_ complaining. Having sex with Barry Allen was indescribable. He had never done anything that gave him this same kind of rush.

Len looked over to Barry now as his vibrations calmed and his body became still. Well, _more_ still. He was still gulping in big heaving breaths, panting away as he came down from his orgasm high. Len smiled and ran his fingertips down Barry’s body, making the speedster alternate between moans and giggles as he brushed teasingly over raw and sensitive skin alike.

Eventually, Len allowed his hand to still, and Barry settled down, turning his broad smile Len’s way.

“You really know how to take a man’s breath away, Kid,” Len drawled, and Barry pulled a face.

“You know it’s kind of weird when you call me that when we’re having sex, right?”

Len shrugged. “Well we’re not having sex right now, are we?” He gained a beautiful grin from Barry in response, his green eyes glowing with delight.

“I’m ready if you are.”

“Barry, if I had a _fraction_ of your recovery speed,” Len drawled, allowing his eyes to roam freely down Barry’s naked body before finally meeting his gaze again. “I would never stop screwing you.”

Barry laughed and settled back in under Len’s arm, closing his eyes for a moment as he rested. Still, though, he continued to talk. Which was nice; Len liked the sound of Barry’s voice – more so when he was screaming Len’s name all night long though.

“I don’t know…” Barry muttered, his voice was warm and soft like a gentle caress against Len’s skin, heating him up inside. “Captain Cold, a speedster? Doesn’t really suit you, does it?”

“I could make it work,” Len huffed and was immediately rewarded by another of Barry’s musical laughs. Len grinned, running his thumb in circles against Barry’s arm.

“Nah, you’d get bored with it,” Barry eventually said, though the mirth was clearly still present in his voice. “You need a challenge… superspeed would feel like cheating.” Len shrugged, thinking that Barry was probably right on that one. Where was the fun in being a thief if there was never any danger that he might get caught?

Sure, it’d be fun for a while to run around at superspeed, being barely detectable to the human eye while he plundered and pillaged and took anything and everything he wanted… but Len didn’t think he’d get the same kind of enjoyment out of it as he did with his cold gun.

“You’d probably turn hero just so you could get a little more excitement,” Barry mused, and Len snorted a laugh.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” he drawled.

Barry twisted around onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow, staring Len down. “Are you honestly telling me that there’s not even the _slightest_ part of you that could be tempted be tempted to join the _Light_ _Side_?”

“I don’t think you can really _tempt_ someone to be good, Barry,” Len immediately countered. “You either are, or you aren’t,” he said, shaking his head. “And I’m not.” Barry didn’t appear particularly upset by his answer, he just smiled softly.

“Well, you’re not as bad as you pretend, either.”

Len shrugged his acceptance of that one. He wasn’t a good guy, but at least he could have been worse; he’d _seen_ worse, up close and personal, far too many times to count, and he took pride in knowing that he didn’t succumb to being like his old man.

“And I think you’re wrong, by the way,” Barry continued. “No one is one inherently good or evil; everyone has a choice in who they want to be.” He was running his finger in a circle against Len’s skin, not quite absentmindedly. It was more purposeful than that, as though he was deliberately giving himself something – _anything_ – to do to avoid meeting Len’s gaze. “And FYI, I think that, if you ever _did_ want to give the other side of the law a whirl every once in a while… you’d make a pretty good hero.”

“And I think that _you_ would make a pretty good thief.”

Barry scoffed, finally meeting Len’s eyes. “I’d make an _excellent_ thief.”

The tension evaporated then, and Len was able to relax a little more, staring up at the ceiling as Barry continued to rub soothing circles against his chest. Though the calming nature of those soft touches was soon clashing against Barry’s lips as he dipped his head down to leave wet rough kisses on Len’s already kiss-bitten torso.

It felt good. _Everything_ that Barry did felt good…

But Len was considerably older than his lover and – as discussed – had a striking lack of superpowers, so he still wasn’t quite ready for a second round.

Not yet, anyway.

Even still, Len didn’t dare to move or do anything more than moan and gasp under Barry’s tongue. But then someone rang the doorbell, and Len blinked in confusion for a moment at the interruption, having almost forgotten.

“Dinner’s here.”

“… Dinner?” Barry asked, looking adorably baffled. Len gave a little snort as he rolled off the bed, pulled some clothes on, and went to answer the door. The delivery driver looked appropriately scandalised when Captain Cold opened up wearing nothing more than some loose-hanging pants, his chest covered in a litter of scars and hickeys.

The guy didn’t look as though he knew what to do, tense and possibly a little scared. Len just took the bag of food from his hands and replaced it with a fifty-dollar tip before closing the door again without another word.

On the other side of it, Len could hear the guy fleeing, his shoes crunching on the gravelled pavement outside the building, and Len laughed.

Normally, he wouldn’t have risked ordering food to any of his safehouses, but Len was beginning to settle into this whole ‘ _not having a criminal record_ ’ thing now. What was the harm, really, if rumours got out about a place he sometimes stayed in? The cops wouldn’t be able to arrest him, and all of his enemies were too afraid of him to try anything. That said, Len was still not going to risk anyone knowing where he actually _lived_ , but the odd safe house or two wasn’t going to be a problem.

When he turned back around, Barry was poking his head out of the bedroom, looking thoroughly ruffled and still just as confused. He’d pulled his jeans and shirt back on now, and Len didn’t bother hiding his disappointment in no longer having a bare-ass naked Flash to ogle.

“When did you order take-out?” Barry prodded, following him into the kitchen.

Len shrugged, placing the bag down on the table as he began to empty it. “Just after you turned up.” He’d figured they might need a bit of fuel after what Len had planned for tonight, especially now that he was aware of Barry’s blood-sugar issue. It wouldn’t do to have the kid pass out on him halfway through the night.

He’d planned the delivery time as two hours later and then got to work stripping Barry down and kissing every inch of his body.

“This is a lot of food,” Barry laughed, as Len finally finished emptying the bag of the three pizzas, two burgers, fries, kebabs, and a portion of chicken bites.

“I have a lot of plans,” Len said, taking a fry and grinning as he popped it in his mouth. Most of the food was reheatable, so Len figured it would last them the night. Which was why he was so surprised when, within the next ten minutes, Barry had demolished two of the pizzas, a burger, half the chicken, and most of the fries.

Len barely managed to contain his shock as he chewed on his own burger.

And then Barry reached for a slice from the third pizza too…

“You’re just a heart attack waiting to happen,” Len laughed. He supposed he would just have to order some dessert for later instead. That wasn’t going to be an issue. In fact… he was sure they could find some rather pleasant creative ways to eat that off each other’s bodies.

Barry shook his head. “It’s okay; I have a fast metabolism.”

“Oh?” Len asked, feigning ignorance while Barry grinned. “I hadn’t heard.”

Barry laughed at him, open and beautiful, and that only made Len’s smile widen. He realised that he didn’t mind this quite as much as he should. He didn’t mind Barry hanging around and eating all of his food, spending several hours with each other rather than just stopping by for a quick shag and leaving again.

This was better.

Len leant forward across the table and captured Barry’s lips with his own. He tasted of greasy food, and that wasn’t the most pleasant experience in the world, but Len couldn’t find it in himself to care as he licked against Barry’s lips and devoured his tongue.

But they were then, unfortunately, interrupted by Len’s phone ringing. He sighed in annoyance as he slipped away from the kiss, winking at Barry before getting up to hunt down his mobile. The caller ID flashed up to say it was Lisa, and Len sighed. His sister had been pulling jobs in Keystone all month, and they hadn’t really spoken since she’d left. In fact, the last time Len had called her was when Barry had first come to him looking for Len’s help transporting the metas.

At the time, Len had been disappointed that she couldn’t make it back to help him enact his plan, thinking that it would be so much more difficult to keep the heroes distracted while Len broke their little toys. But now he was happy that she hadn’t been around. If she had been, Len wasn’t so sure he would’ve had enough alone time with Barry to sleep with him that first time.

This way had worked out just fine for Len and everyone else involved: Lisa got the chance to start making a name for herself on her own, Barry got to keep his conscious clear without having illegally imprisoned a bunch of metas on a remote island in the middle of nowhere, and Len got himself a few new allies and a fantastic new bedpartner.

Yep. All really was good as far as Len could see.

“Lisa,” he greeted as he answered the phone. He would have rather ignored it in favour of going back to find Barry. But there was at least a 20% chance that this was important, and Len didn’t want to risk it.

It wasn’t important, it seemed, because after the initial ‘ _how are you_ ’s, Lisa spent the next five minutes discussing a job she was planning. It was an interesting one, no doubt, but not really the life or death situation that would stop Len from feeling as though his time was better spent sitting on Barry’s lap.

After a few minutes, Barry showed up in the doorway, catching Len’s attention as he hung there awkwardly.

“One second, Lise,” Len said, interrupting his sister mid-sentence before moving the phone away from his face and giving Barry his full attention.

“Sorry,” he muttered shyly, but Len just waved that away. Barry could interrupt him anytime. “I was just… Can I use your shower?”

“Go ahead,” Len nodded, fully aware that Barry hadn’t had the chance to wash up since Len had come inside of him; he was probably getting increasingly uncomfortable.

Barry smiled in thanks and backed out of the doorway, walking down the hall towards Len’s ensuite, and Len got up from where he was perched on the arm of his couch to watch Barry every step of the way.

Only when he disappeared behind the door into Len’s bedroom did Len pull the phone back up to his ear. “I’m back.”

“Who was that?” Lisa immediately questioned, and Len silently cursed her good hearing. Why couldn’t she be as deaf and – occasionally – clueless as Mick was?

“No one.”

“Didn’t sound like no one,” she pushed, sounding far too excited for a sister prying into her brother’s sex life, which probably meant… “In fact, that voice sounded an awful lot like a certain Scarlet Speedster we know.” Len shook his head and sighed, knowing that nothing he could say would make Lisa stop now. “So, what is the _Flash_ doing using your shower on a Saturday night, huh?”

“Would you believe it if I said his place is being fumigated?”

“Not at all.”

Len nodded. “Yeah, didn’t think so.” They were both silent for a moment as the implications of what Barry was doing here truly set in, and then his sister was laughing. Laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world…

“Lenny, last we spoke you were planning on _betraying_ the Flash,” she reminded him. “How did you end up schtupping him instead?”

“As well as, actually,” he admitted, and if anything that only made Lisa laugh harder.

And when she spoke again, the smile was clearly audible in her voice. “See, now I just have more questions.”

Questions which Len wasn’t going to answer, if only because he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d managed this one either. Cracking his way into Barry Allen’s pants may just be one of the greatest accomplishments of Len’s criminal career, and yet it was at least 50% accidental.

“I’m putting the phone down now,” Len muttered, as Lisa only prodded further for more details.

“Go ahead,” she laughed. “You don’t want to keep that fine piece of ass waiting.”

Len hung up.

His sister was probably going to be giving him stick for sleeping with the Scarlet Speedster himself for the foreseeable future; and she’d probably end up looping Mick in, too. But that was tomorrow’s problem.

Tonight, he had a naked, wet speedster to deal with.

Len dropped the phone down onto his sofa and turned to find Barry. He walked through the hall and into the bedroom, finding the door leading into the ensuite half-open even as the shower was still clearly on, kicking steam out into the bedroom. Len grinned, taking it as an invitation as he pressed the door open those last few feet until he got a nice view of Barry’s ass through the glass screen surrounding him while he lathered his hair with shampoo.

“Washing away the night’s sins?” Len drawled, casually leaning sideways as though his cock wasn’t already becoming thick and heavy between his thighs from the sight in front of him.

“Trying to,” Barry laughed, hooking his head over his shoulder to look at Len. “But the night’s not over yet.”

Len grinned and pushed off the doorframe to step closer. “Room for one more?”

“Possibly,” Barry nodded, and Len could see his dick twitching to life in the shower. “But it might be a bit of a tight fit.”

“I’m sure we’ll find some way to make it work.”

[] [] []

When Barry woke up the next morning, he was surprised to realise that he was still lying naked inside Leonard Snart’s bed. The sheets were resting uselessly at their ankles, and the two of them were all tangled up in each other’s arms. It was… comfortable, but definitely strange.

They’d never slept with each other before.

Never _actually_ slept together.

Maybe a little nap here or there, but that was different. Barry had never stayed the night. Len had made it pretty clear from the very beginning that he didn’t want Barry to still be here in the morning, and Barry had been completely fine with that because he was using Len’s body just as much as Len was using his. But now…

Barry should get up, detach himself from Len’s arms, tug the leg away that he had pressed between Len’s thighs, and _leave_.

He should.

But he didn’t want to.

Perhaps he was just too tired and far too comfortable to leave. Maybe his head was clogged full of dreams, and he couldn’t process the situation properly?

Maybe…?

Well, whatever it was that made Barry stay, he wasn’t quite sure; but he just closed his eyes again and snuggled in even deeper. Len’s half-asleep body reacted to Barry by pulling him in closer, and that was where they stayed as he drifted off again.

When he woke up again an hour or two later, Len was awake too.

They weren’t quite so entangled anymore, but Barry’s head still rested on Len’s shoulder, his hand splayed over his lover’s lower abdomen. When Barry realised that Len was awake, he tensed up.

But Len wasn’t mad. In fact, he actually laughed, his blue eyes staring sleepily into Barry’s.

Barry loosened up, his urge to pull away again quickly quelled. Instead, he leant in a little further and pressed a quick, open-mouthed kiss against Len’s lips.

“Good morning to you, too,” Len drawled once the kiss broke, and Barry smiled as he realised how much softer and warmer his voice was first thing in the morning.

It was kind of cute.

“I guess I fell asleep last night,” Barry muttered, still feeling very shy about being here now, even though Len didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

“Hmm,” he hummed. “I guess so.” He lifted his hand up and brushed it through Barry’s hair, and Barry’s eyes widened as he remembered how badly he suffered from bedhead. And last night, falling into Leonard’s bed while his hair was still wet from the shower… he could only imagine what kind of hell was going on up there right now.

Len laughed – though whether that was at the state of Barry’s hair or at the stricken look across his face, he wasn’t sure; probably a bit of both – and dropped his head back onto the pillow, grinning up at the ceiling.

“You’re evil,” Barry complained, and Len raised both of his hands into the air in his own defence.

“I didn’t say a thing.”

Barry pouted.

Why did Len have to look so darn good all the damn time? It was frustrating. People like Barry just couldn’t keep up with that. With those cool blue eyes, the pretty dusting of stubble, and that stunning smile… He was gorgeous. Just looking at Len, lying there, completely naked beside Barry… it made his stomach flip.

And then when Len turned his head and caught Barry staring, when he grinned and asked: “Is there something on my face?” Barry felt his cheeks begin to ache with the force of his smile. He nodded, trying to look serious as he shifted in bed to press into Len a little closer.

“Yeah, me,” he answered, trying for smooth but probably missing by a mile. He pushed up to graze his lips against Len’s again, grinning into the kiss as he felt Len’s body shake with laughter. When they pulled away, Len gave him a wink.

“You fell right into that one,” he said, and Barry tried to frown.

“Ooh, you’re so fiendish,” he goaded. “Like a little trickster.” Barry actually _did_ frown then as he remembered the men who actually went by the moniker of ‘ _Trickster’_ who he’d fought a few months ago, back before everything had gone to shit. Barry pulled his mind back out of the past though and looked to Len, managing a smile. “Well, maybe you have a _slightly_ better fashion sense than them.”

“Only slightly?” Len laughed.

Barry’s smile felt a little more genuine again as he watched the light in Len’s eyes while the seconds passed.

He looked so much more laid-back in the morning, just like he had done that day at the beach… so open, and warm. Barry realised that his heart was thudding a little faster than normal, and he tried not to think about what that could mean, but it was so difficult to think about any _else_ while laying here, peaceful in Len’s arms.

Len pressed another kiss to Barry’s lips, and his stomach flipped again. It felt so good. _He_ felt so good, so happy in the moment.

But there was something about that tranquillity, that joy he was experiencing, combined with every other rocky and content feeling he’d had – not just this morning, but whenever Barry was in Len’s arms – which seemed suddenly too strong. Barry could feel his heart beating harder, and it didn’t feel so good anymore. It felt harsh inside his ribcage.

Barry tried to fight the feeling, but it was there, niggling away in his airways until he just couldn’t take it anymore.

He needed something else to concentrate on, something other than this feeling rattling around in his chest. He needed…

Barry slipped his hand lower and took Len’s cock into a firm grasp, kissing the older man heavier and harder as he worked his cock to full mast.

Len groaned against Barry’s lips, pressing up, his tongue taking control while Barry stroked his dick. But it wasn’t enough to keep the thoughts from flying around in Barry’s mind, everything in Barry’s head and heart suddenly and untimely clicking into place to the point where it was overwhelming. He grabbed some lube from Len’s nightstand and Len opened him up, nice and slow, laughing when Barry begged him to go faster.

He needed this. He needed to divert his thought process away from the way Len’s smile gave him butterflies, from the way his eyes made Barry happy, from how just the thought of Len made Barry’s whole day seem a little brighter.

There was too much going on in his head, and Barry needed it all to stop. So, he flung his leg over Len’s hips, straddling him as he sunk down onto Len’s weeping cock. Barry rocked his hips, quick and hard, showing Len exactly what kind of tryst he needed today, encouraging Len to bite, and scratch, and fuck as hard as he could.

And Len did.

Barry did his utmost to distract himself from this cluster of emotions clinging to his chest, to not focus on them, not question them.

But it didn’t work.

No matter how hard he rode Len’s cock, no matter how many scratches and bite marks Len left on his skin, no matter how lost he got in Len’s body… It didn’t work. Because it wasn’t just anyone’s hands on his hips, or tongue and teeth against his neck, or blue eyes shining up at him.

It wasn’t just anyone.

It was Len.

And no matter how hard he tried, Barry couldn’t stop himself from feeling.

When he came, his body vibrated uncontrollably from his orgasm until Len came too. And then Barry collapsed onto him, panting and sweating and shaking.

Len lifted his fingers to brush the hair away that was clinging to Barry’s forehead, and it made Barry’s heartrate quicken even faster. But that was _bad_. Oh, it was so bad. He couldn’t have feelings for _Captain Cold_!

This was supposed to be a fling.

Barry had the urge to kiss Len again, to just lie there naked and enjoying each other’s bodies, and not because he was trying to destress, or needed a distraction. But because he just wanted to spend his time with Len.

So, instead, Barry rolled away and sat up.

“I have to go,” he said quickly while Leonard frowned at him, pushing himself up on his elbows but not sitting fully.

Barry’s eyes roamed down Len’s exposed, naked body, noticing a spatter of his own come drying on his lover’s stomach before he looked sharply away.

“I… I have a case I’m working on,” Barry said, having to physically stop himself from just lying back down with Len again; instead, he dragged his body up and out of bed. “And I should really be getting back to it.”

That wasn’t a lie, per se; Barry had lots of cases that needed his attention. But it wasn’t really the truth, either.

“Suit yourself,” Len muttered even as his eyes wandered hungrily across Barry’s naked form, watching him as he pulled his clothes back on without even bothering to clean up first. But that didn’t matter, he could shower at STAR Labs and nip back to Joe’s house to throw his clothes in the wash before they stained.

Barry stumbled through getting dressed, just barely managing not to do it at superspeed because that would _definitely_ be suspicious, and he didn’t want Len questioning why Barry was so eager to get away that he couldn’t wait an extra ten seconds to get changed.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Len drawled once Barry was finally fully dressed. Then he dropped himself back down onto the bed, crossing his arms underneath his head and closing his eyes as though he was ready to fall back asleep again.

Barry gave him one last longing look before he turned and ran away.

He was skidding to a stop in STAR Labs only seconds later, pulling his clothes off as he jumped into the shower to clean away the damp mess of his own come that was still covering his stomach. He didn’t allow himself to stay in there for so much as a second longer than was necessary, though; because without anything to concentrate on, his mind was reeling.

All of those thoughts and feelings that had surfaced while in Len’s arms were still there, demanding Barry’s attention, and Barry just… he didn’t know what to do about them.

He tried to go for a run at first, hoping that physical exertion would lead to mental exhaustion too, but that didn’t work… it only made him long to be lying down in Len’s bed again.

So, Barry moved onto casework to keep his mind busy, but he quickly came to a mental block there too and was faced with the same issue.

Barry tried puzzles and reading and binge-watching TV shows, but nothing helped. And after a few hours of trying and failing to avoid the problem, he finally just gave in.

It didn’t take him long to come up with an answer to all of his questions, nor was he surprised by what the answer was:

Barry was falling in love with Leonard Snart.

He hadn’t meant for it to happen. All this time, this tracking Len down for sex, pursuing him… it was supposed to be meaningless. No strings attached. Just… getting each other out of their systems. But their relationship had changed so much since this whole thing started, and Barry didn’t _dis_ like that.

It wasn’t just about having fun anymore, or stress-relief, or enjoying the benefits of having sex with someone who knew Barry’s secret double-life. This was more than that.

And it was just oh so very, very confusing.

Barry had told himself that he’d never talk about what he and Len were doing to anyone. But now… He just couldn’t keep it in any longer.

When it came to his love life, Iris was the first person Barry thought to talk to, but this time he _couldn’t_. Iris had only lost Eddie a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t fair for Barry to put this on her. Not now. But there was no one else who he could talk to about this! The only other people who Barry wasn’t actively avoiding was his dad in Iron Heights – which, _no_ , he was not going to even entertain the idea of talking to his dad about this – and Leonard Snart himself.

Barry threaded his hands through his hair as he realised that his options were limited. He could, A: suffer through this alone, B: drag Iris into it – even though she was undeniably suffering enough as it was – or C: suck it up and reach out to one of his friends again.

It was a difficult choice; Barry very nearly just picked option A and buried himself under a pile of blankets with a tub of ice cream…

But, instead, he grabbed his phone up from the desk and dialled a number he hadn’t called in nearly four weeks.

“Barry?” Cisco answered, sounding surprised and worried. Barry’s stomach twisted into knots.

“I need your help.”

He was instantly on high alert. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I…” Barry sighed, shaking his head. He wondered how his friend was going to react to this… wondered if they were even still friends anymore too. Barry had been pretty shitty to Cisco and everyone else ever since he’d helped to open up a black hole in the city.

And if Barry couldn’t even spare the time of day on Cisco for a cup of coffee every now and then, how could he expect anything but hatred and resentment in return? Especially once Cisco found out that Barry had side-lined his team but had not only continued to speak with a man who should by all rights be his enemy, but he’d actually gone out of his way to _bed_ the man too. And then, to make matters worse, Barry had…

He’d…

Barry sighed. It was time to come clean.

“I think I’m in love with Leonard Snart.”


	5. Chapter 5

“So, let me get this straight,” Cisco said. It was the next morning now, and Barry was sitting opposite him inside Cisco’s apartment, attempting to avoid his gaze as he reached over to pick up a cookie. “ _You_ are sleeping with Leonard Snart?” Barry nodded, chewing slowly to save himself from having to speak, but Cisco wasn’t having it today. Which was fair… and also probably for the best. After all, Barry had been the one to seek Cisco out on this, not the other way around. Clearly, he needed to talk to someone about this, even if it was the last thing he wanted. “ _Why_?”

“It’s…” Barry shook his head, lost for words. He took another bite of his cookie to bide himself some time, chewing even slower. But no matter how long he waited, he just didn’t know how to explain this. Eventually, he ran out of food to eat. Cisco just waited him out. “It’s complicated.”

“Then _un_ complicated it, Dude.” It wasn’t that easy. But Cisco seemed to think it was… “Is this about what happened with Wells? Are you still punishing yourself for…?”

“For decimating half the city and nearly destroying the whole planet?” Barry finished for him and watched as Cisco winced. But then Barry shook his head and laughed as he thought over his friend’s questions; because this thing with Len… “It’s not a punishment.” If it was, it was the best god damn punishment Barry had ever had.

“Okay,” Cisco said slowly, beginning to laugh. “Well… I guess that smile answers question number two; whether Cold’s good in bed.” Barry could feel himself blushing. He grabbed another cookie from the coffee table to give himself something to do, something more than thinking about his sex-life with Len. “Because, you know, if you’re going to have sex with a criminal, at least you picked one who can do it right.” Cisco grinned. “Or should I say, ‘do _you_ right’?”

“Please stop,” Barry muttered, dropping his head into his hands as his friend burst out laughing.

“Personally, if I was going to pick a criminal, I think I would have chosen someone a little more age-appropriate,” he continued, ignoring Barry’s plea. “Like Shawna Baez, or… if you’re determined for it to be a guy, Hartley, maybe?”

Barry could only groan.

“Granted,” Cisco continued absentmindedly, chewing on his own cookie now. “There’s gotta be something in those Snart genes because Lisa is H-O-T _hot_.”

“For someone who thinks the only reason I would sleep with a criminal is to somehow punish myself, you sure do have a lot of input about having sex with criminals,” Barry muttered, though it did nothing to ease the swirl of emotions in the pit of his stomach.

“Hey, you can’t judge me here, Mister,” Cisco said, pointing his finger at Barry. “You fell in love with your criminal, I only have the occasional crush on mine.”

Barry found himself wincing again.

The thought that he might have – almost definitely had – fallen in love with Leonard Snart was still so new and worrying. Len was _not_ his usual type. Like, okay, sure, he was undeniably hot… but Barry needed _so_ much more than that. He needed someone kind, and thoughtful, and who could care about him.

Someone like Iris.

Except, Iris wasn’t interested; she’d picked Eddie, and even though Eddie was no longer here, that was where her heart still lay. And Barry…

Well, Barry had chosen Len, apparently. Because now that they were together, the thought of being with Iris instead made his stomach flip, and not in a good way. He still loved Iris, but despite how much he cared for her, it was Len that Barry wanted to be with.

And how fucked up had Barry’s life become that he would choose Leonard – _freaking_ – Snart over Iris West?!

A criminal over his life-long best friend…

They hadn’t even been doing this for very long! Only a handful of weeks of sleeping together and Barry was already falling head over feet for his enemy…

Len was cruel, and cold, and distant.

Except… he wasn’t.

Sure, Len pretended that he had a heart made of literal ice, but that wasn’t the Len that Barry had come to know. It wasn’t the Len who had taken Barry to the beach the other week just to cheer him up. It wasn’t the Len who had ordered in enough food to feed a family just to make sure that Barry wouldn’t go hypoglycaemic while they were together. It wasn’t the Len who gave Barry these soft, heartfelt smiles when he thought no one was looking.

It wasn’t _Barry’s_ Len.

Though that was the issue, wasn’t it? Because there was no ‘ _Barry’s Len_ ’. They weren’t dating, and they probably never would be. Len didn’t want a relationship, he only wanted sex. And that had been fine, to begin with, it had been what they’d agreed on; just some good, no strings attached, fun.

_Barry_ was the one going back on that now.

Barry was the one catching feelings.

Unless… Unless Len was too?

With how he’d been acting lately… It was possible that Barry wasn’t the only one in this relationship who actually _wanted_ a relationship. Len very well might feel the same way.

That realisation only left Barry with more questions, though; the main one being: “What do I do?”

He looked to Cisco for help, but his friend didn’t have any answers.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Cisco complained. “The only one of us who can answer that question is _you_.”

But Barry had been making some pretty terrible decisions lately, and right now he didn’t think he could pick the right path if his life depended on it. He silently pleaded to Cisco with his eyes, begging for some guidance.

Cisco sighed. “I guess… You just need to show Cold that you’re the right man for him.” He nodded, pleased with his own answer even as Barry grimaced. “Easy.”

“Uh, _not_ easy,” Barry complained. “I'm _not_ the right man for him. I'm the Flash, and he's Captain Cold, how can I pretend that we're right for each other?” Barry and Len were complete opposites in near to every single way. “But I want him anyway.”

Cisco frowned at Barry, studying him seriously for the first time all morning. Barry wondered whether he hated what he saw. He hadn’t said anything to make Barry believe that – in fact, he’d been relatively calm about this whole thing… after the initial freak-out on the phone, of course – but how _couldn’t_ Cisco hate him? Len had kidnapped him, held him at gunpoint to make weapons, and used those weapons to freeze his brother’s hand. And Barry was not only sleeping with the criminal, but he’d fallen in _love_ with him too.

And that was just the cherry on top of the cake of the shit-show Barry called the last month of his life.

Barry wasn’t worthy of friends like Cisco, that was why he’d pushed them all away… because they were all better off without him around.

But the thing was, Barry was weak. Too weak to deal with this problem by himself, so he ended up dragging Cisco back in because of it.

Cisco should hate him.

But, instead of rage behind those eyes, he just looked concerned.

“When did this start?” Cisco asked. He paused and then quickly shook his head to correct his own question. “Not the sleeping with each other part; I have already heard more than enough about that... But the feelings.”

“I don't know,” Barry admitted. It wasn’t like there had been some sort of announcement in the paper, he didn’t get a text or email about it. It wasn’t some big dramatic thing. I had been gradual, a building of emotions over time. Barry tried to think when the first time he’d thought about this thing with Len as anything more than just sex, but going over the ‘greatest hits’ in his head only gave him butterflies in his stomach. Barry did his best to shake that feeling now as he took another cookie. “I guess it started the other week at the beach?”

“Hold up...” Cisco said, throwing his hands in the air dramatically. “You and Captain Cold went to the _beach_ together?!”

Barry sighed and dropped his head into his hands. This was getting him nowhere.

He stayed for a little while longer and caught Cisco up on his affair with Len, the whole sordid story… And then he left to think things over some more on his own. It was a few hours – and zero answers – later when Barry got a text from Len, inviting him over tomorrow night.

And it was then that Barry got an idea.

Not necessarily a _good_ idea, but it was the only one he had.

[] [] []

Len’s phone rang and Lisa’s name popped up on his caller ID. No surprises there; she had been calling him a lot more often ever since she’d found out that he was sleeping with the Flash. It was beginning to grate on Len’s nerves.

He was getting ready for his next job with Mick and had spent the last day and a half holed up in one of his safehouses, meticulously studying the blueprints and devising a plan. But Lisa’s repeated interruptions were doing him no good.

Still, he answered the call.

“This better be important,” he growled down the phone.

To his surprise, Lisa answered with: “It is.” Len straightened up his slouched form and waited. “I need your help.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well… my brother is fucking the Flash, but he won’t give me any details.”

Len very nearly threw his cell against the wall.

“Oh, come on, Lenny,” she demanded. “I have to know the story of how you went from screwing him over to just plain screwing him.”

“Let me make one thing clear,” Len muttered, “ _nothing_ about having sex with the Flash is _plain_.”

He expected Lisa to complain again, make a joke out of it, something… But she just went suspiciously quiet, enough to _almost_ make Len nervous. She was taking this too seriously, he realised, even before she started speaking again.

“You like him.”

It sounded like an accusation.

Len laughed, though it was certainly forced. “That’s ridiculous.” At least, it was in the way that Lisa was implying. Because, truthfully, Len _did_ like Barry. He was fun. They got along with each other surprisingly well, and Len might have even said that they were more friends than frenemies now.

Len liked Barry.

But he didn’t _like_ Barry. Not in that way.

“Yeah, it is,” Lisa laughed, and it was a much more genuine laugh than Len’s had been. She really believed in what she was saying, and that… Well, Len could just see the way this conversation was going to go, he could just see himself wasting the next half an hour arguing with his sister over the phone as she laughed at him. He could see it all laid out, and he refused to do it.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Len said, and his sister was instantly laughing again.

“Oh, Lenny, don’t be like tha–”

Len hung up.

She was probably laughing even harder now, but he didn’t care. Let her laugh. She didn’t know what she was talking about.

He sighed and stared back down at the blueprints he had laid out on the table, trying to concentrate again, but it was proving difficult. He struggled to quit thinking about what Lisa had said. Len had chosen not to argue his point, and that was for the best, it really was. Arguing with his sister was just a waste of his time. But he was irrationally peeved about what she said, what she thought…

She was wrong, and Len wanted her to _know_ that she was wrong. He just didn’t see any way that could play out in his favour.

He tried his best to put it out of his thoughts, to focus on what he knew of the guards schedules, to picture the building’s layout in his mind… but he just kept running through his own argument points in his head, getting wound up.

Eventually, Len just threw in the towel. He decided that he needed to do another stakeout tomorrow morning – as though the information, not _Lisa,_ was the problem here – and then he headed home.

But he was so wrapped up inside his own head that he didn’t even realise anything was amiss until he was unlocking the front door and stepping inside. And then… he was assaulted by the scent of something sweet and rich brewing inside his kitchen.

Len sighed.

Mick _knew_ that he wasn’t allowed to use the damn stove!

If he was so eager for chicken that he was willing to burn down his own house, then all the power to him. He’d probably enjoy it better than having a soft bed to sleep in anyway.

If he lit one of the safehouses up… okay, that was more of an issue, but so long as there was nothing important inside then Len couldn’t care.

But Len’s house?

No.

It didn’t matter how amazing that smelt. Len was not risking his _house_ for some sticky ribs or… or whatever it was that Mick was cooking up in there. Len squared his shoulders and barged past his kitchen door, Mick’s name on the tip of his tongue.

And then he froze.

The person bent over the stove, in black skinny-fit jeans which left even less to the imagination than his bright red suit did… was not Mick.

Barry turned a smile to Len, straightening up and fixing his sleek teal button-up shirt. He looked… _damn_.

He looked good.

So good that Len momentarily forgot that he _wasn’t supposed to be here_. Or, at least, not for another few hours.

But Len soon snapped himself out of it. “Did you break in?” It was a stupid question, Len knew that; but… Somehow, the thought of Barry Allen breaking into someone’s home was just so preposterous that Len almost thought there might be another answer here.

But, of course, the answer was: “A little.” And that was…

Well, honestly, that was pretty damn hot.

Len figured he should have been angry at the intrusion, but, on this instance…

“I’m impressed.”

He was; he hadn’t noticed any signs of forced entry, and not so much as a stone out of place on his path. For what was – assumably – Barry’s first home break-in, he’d done a good job.

Barry looked pretty proud of himself at the compliment, blushing down at his sneakers, and Len took the moment to get his thoughts back on track. He’d got a little side-lined seeing Barry’s slim physique in here rather than Mick’s bulking one, but now he took another glance around the kitchen and remembered that Barry was in here… cooking.

That was new.

“What’s this?” Len asked, stepping around Barry to look at the pots simmering away on the stove, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like chicken, and there was definitely a tomato-based sauce there… probably cherry tomatoes considering the sweet scent. There was also some rice bubbling away in a pot. But, other than that… Len had no clue.

He turned his questioning gaze back to Barry’s bright red cheeks and smiling eyes.

“It’s just… I had a new recipe that I wanted to try out, and cooking for one is a bit…” Barry shrugged. “You know.”

Len didn’t know, not really. Sure, he’d heard others say the same thing time and time again: cooking for one was depressing, boring, a waste of time… But Len had never really agreed with any of that. He liked being alone; he liked having some peace and quiet. He liked cooking big meals and splitting it into batches. It had never been an issue.

That being said, he was not about to turn Barry or his cooking – both of which smelt amazing – away anytime soon, so he nodded.

“New recipe, huh? So, you want me to be your little guinea pig?”

Barry laughed, looking to relax a little, which was kind of cute. Len wasn’t quite sure when ‘ _cute_ ’ became so appealing, but it was on Barry Allen. Being a man who enjoyed his own solitude, Len should have found Barry’s constant need for company and connection boring or annoying… but Len supposed he always did have his exceptions. There were people – though the list was short – who’s company Len didn’t hate. And Barry had found himself a spot on that list recently. And not just because they were sleeping together, though that certainly went in the speedster’s favour, but because Barry was just interesting to be around.

Like Len _hadn’t_ said to Lisa earlier, he _liked_ Barry. So, the speedster’s sudden appearance at his house tonight – although uninvited – promised to be mutually beneficial for the both of them, in much more ways than one. Good company, [probably] good food, and ~~outstanding~~ good sex… It had all the makings of a great night.

“What are we having?”

“Oh, it… err… It doesn’t really have a name,” Barry stammered out, sounding uncertain. “It’s from my dad’s old family cookbook. It’s marked as my mum’s favourite, so I just…” Barry shrugged and laughed, avoiding Len’s gaze as he picked up a wooden spoon to stir the rice. “It’s got chilli, ginger, these fancy red peppercorns that I had to go to three different markets to find…”

“It smells great,” Len said softly, understanding that this was a big deal for Barry.

He was admittedly a little surprised that the kid would choose to share the meal with Len for the first time, but he supposed it made sense considering how much he was clearly still isolating himself from everyone else. Strangely enough, Leonard Snart was the only person Barry really seemed to have left, though that was through his own making.

Len tried not to think about that too much though, even if he thought Barry was being stupid and would ultimately regret pushing everyone away… It wasn’t Len’s choice to make; it wasn’t even his place to have an opinion. Barry’s life was his own, and Len shouldn’t care what he did with it.

But Barry was becoming a friend, and Len didn’t like to see his friends making stupid decisions.

However, before Len could decide what to say, Barry was sticking a spoon into the sauce and holding it out for Len to try, his eyes lit up with expectations. So, Len just let the fight drop completely from his shoulders, leaning over to blow on the spoon for a moment before wrapping his lips around it.

The sauce tasted even better than it smelt, lighting Len’s tastebuds up in delight.

“What do you think?” Barry asked, impatient.

Len straightened back up and grinned. “I’d kill for this.”

“Please don’t,” Barry muttered, even as laughter filled his eyes and a grin spread across his cheeks. Len leant forward and kissed him, relishing the warmth of Barry’s tongue and soft press of his lips even more than he had enjoyed the food.

Len could have happily spent the rest of the night wrapped up with Barry Allen, food forgotten about and abandoned as he ran his tongue along every inch of Barry’s skin. But he could wait for that. He could…

The kiss broke, and Barry smiled. “You’re right, it does taste good.” Len laughed and turned to grab a beer from the fridge, only to find the shelves filled with squirty cream, strawberries, chocolates, and a bakery box with Len could only assume was housing a cake.

He turned back to Barry, who was blushing and shrugging.

“That’s… to have with the dessert?”

“And the dessert is?”

The upward twist of Barry’s lips was all the answer Len needed, but Barry voiced it anyway. “Me.”

“My favourite.”

Barry averted his eyes, grinning as he picked the spoon back up to stir the rice again. Len grabbed them both a beer and opened them, passing one to Barry, who accepted it with a nod. He didn’t take a sip though; instead, he stared down at the bottle and chewed on his lip before meeting Len’s eyes again.

“Talking about favourites…” he started, shrugging. “What _is_ your favourite meal?”

Len shrugged. “I’m not fussy.”

“Come on,” Barry pressed. “Everyone has a favourite meal.” Len shrugged again. “What about a favourite book, or movie?”

“Why do you want to know?” Len asked, frowning at Barry’s insistence.

“It’s just…” Barry shrugged and averted his gaze, turning back to the pots on the stove. “It’s strange, you know? We spend so much time together, but I don’t know all that much about you. Like… what do you do for fun?”

Len smirked. “You.”

Barry just rolled his eyes.

“Have you ever tried bowling?” he tried again, meeting Len’s eyes only briefly. “We could go sometime.”

“You want to go bowling with a known criminal?” he asked, trying to figure out where all of this was coming from. They’d been doing this thing for a month now, and Barry had never shown any interest in Len’s hobbies until now.

“Well, it’s not like you have a record anymore,” Barry said. Surprisingly, he didn’t sound even slightly bitter about that. “There’d be no harm to it.” Len frowned; he didn’t know what to do with this. Did Barry actually want to spend more time with him, or was he just lonely and reaching out to the only person he hadn’t isolated himself from?

Len sighed. “Are you sure you wouldn’t be happier going out with one of your friends?” Barry’s smile dropped, and Len almost wished he could take it back. He _wanted_ to spend time with Barry, even doing something stupid like bowling could be endlessly fun. But he also wanted what was best for the kid, and he wasn’t it.

“That’s… I’m not… That’s not why I’m asking you” Barry insisted, shaking his head. “I just thought it might be fun.”

“To lose at bowling?” Len goaded, and Barry laughed.

“Tough talk for someone who pretends he isn’t interested in having a match.”

“You’re on.”

Barry smiled. “I look forward to it.”

[] [] []

When Barry woke up the next morning, he felt a little bit colder than normal. Unconsciously, he reached out for Len in bed, frowning when his exploring hand failed to find him. But it was early, and Barry’s eyes burned at the mere thought of opening to look for his bed partner, so he just pulled the duvet up a little higher and went back to sleep, sure that Len would be back at any moment.

And he was.

Just… not in the way that Barry had hoped for.

When Len returned, he didn’t climb back into bed and throw his arm around Barry. Instead, he flung open the curtains in the room and allowed the glaringly early summer sun into the room.

“Rise and shine, Barry,” Len drawled, far too loudly, and Barry threw a pillow at his head. He didn’t open his eyes though to aim it or see if it landed its mark. It probably didn’t. “Well, that’s not very sportsman-like.”

“Go away,” Barry mumbled as he tugged the duvet up over his head. Len laughed but didn’t say anything else. Instead, Barry felt the mattress dip and the bed gently creak beside him under Len’s weight. Len’s hand hooked onto the edge of the duvet and yanked it down. Barry put up a fight, of course, but he quickly lost.

Barry screwed his eyes up closed even tighter and squirmed away from the light, groaning his complaint. Len just hovered there, leaning over Barry, saying and doing nothing as his hands caged in Barry’s face. Slowly, Barry opened his eyes.

He got the barest, blurriest glimpse of Len’s blue eyes and sinful smirk before Len dipped down to kiss him, and Barry closed his eyes again as he sighed happily into Len’s mouth. The kiss was playful, content, sweet, and Barry responded as best he could, but quickly began to lag as it was simply too early in the morning. Barry never would have thought that it would ever be too early to make out with Leonard Snart… but, then again, Len had never tried to drag him out of bed before six in the morning on a weekend either; so, there was that…

“Are you really not going to kiss me back?” Len asked as he pulled away, sounding unhappy.

“Too tired,” Barry yawned, his eyes still closed.

“Well, wake up,” Len said, gently swiping Barry on the cheek. Barry tried to bite his hand in retaliation, but he missed, and Len laughed. “I have to head out in an hour.”

“Sounds to me like I still have 59 minutes left to sleep.”

Len laughed again. “Nice try.”

He dipped down to press another quick kiss to Barry’s lips and then stood, dragging the duvet off the bed and exposing Barry’s mostly-naked body to the cold air. Barry groaned in complaint and finally squinted his eyes open again as he scrambled to grab the duvet back. But Len just grinned and pulled away farther before walking out of the bedroom, taking the duvet with him.

And Barry was once again left to wonder why he was in love with this ridiculous man.

Despite his woes, Barry rubbed at his tired eyes and stood up. Though, admittedly, it took him a while to do that. He moved to the door, hoping for a shower before he had to get dressed, but he could hear the sound of running water from the bathroom, so reluctantly he pulled his clothes back on and went downstairs for a drink of coffee.

The TV was on in the living room, playing the morning news, but Barry didn’t pay much attention to it as he walked through towards the kitchen, following the scent of freshly pressed beans. There was already a cup waiting for Barry on the counter, prepared exactly the way that Barry liked it – which was so very different from the bitter black coffee that Len preferred to drink.

Barry grinned to himself as he picked the mug up and cradled the soothing heat to his chest. Len must have made it before he’d jumped into the shower, and that thought made Barry smile. It was moments like this that made him wondered if maybe, _maybe_ , Len felt the same way that Barry did.

That was a nice thought, though Barry knew he wasn’t ready to put it to the test just yet. There were many more steps on his… well, he didn’t like to call it a ‘plan’ for wooing Len, because that sounded considerably less romantic and a lot more manipulative. However…

As much as Barry knew that the best way to take this was to just tell Len the truth, to confess his feelings, he just didn’t think they were ready for that yet. What they had going was good. It worked. It wasn’t just hooking up anymore, and it hadn’t been for quite a while now. They ate, they talked, they had fun. They were basically dating already!

But Barry didn’t know whether Len had clicked on to that yet. And if he hadn’t… then Barry’s confession was surely just going to mess up everything they had together.

So, yes, Barry did have a plan. A plan to gradually up the ante on what they were doing until Len could not possibly deny that they were dating! And that’s exactly what Barry did last night by showing up early and preparing an actual meal for them. He’d wanted to bring candles to set the mood a little bit too, but that was probably a bit too soon. He needed to take this thing one step at a time, no rushing forward. Barry was convinced that it would only work if he took things slow.

Candles, chocolates, flowers… all that mushy stuff that Barry loved so much would just have to wait a little longer. But that was okay; Len was worth the wait.

Barry took a sip of his coffee, it was still nice and warm and fresh, and Barry felt the heat travelling through his body and revitalising his tired muscles. His body was aching pleasantly from having ‘ _received seven inches of snow_ ’ the previous night, as Len had so eloquently phrased it – God, why did Barry like him?! – so Barry moved to sit down at the kitchen table.

But then his ears picked up on something the news anchor was talking about in the other room, and Mark Mardon’s name rang through the house, loud and clear. Barry tensed immediately. His first thought was for Joe and Iris as he raced out of the kitchen to listen to the news story. But it seemed Mardon had abandoned plans for revenge and taken up robbing banks again instead.

It was a relief, of course, that there was no impending tsunami on the way – at least, not right now, anyway – but as he listened on, Barry decided that perhaps now might be the time for the Flash to get back in the game.

He hadn’t been fighting crime lately. Instead, he’d been mostly using his time as the Flash to help rebuild the homes and businesses that the singularity had swallowed up. He’d figured that was the only good thing he was capable of right now. But after the fright of hearing Mardon’s name on the news again…

Barry was reminded of all the bad that metahumans could do to this city. If they felt like it, they could tear the whole world apart. Barry should know… he’d almost done that himself on his own selfish whim…

But this wasn’t about Barry right now. This was about protecting the people that he loved.

Watching the CCTV footage of Mark Mardon bringing forth a storm inside that bank reminded Barry of all the reasons he had become the Flash in the first place. He had undoubtedly made countless mistakes the first time around, but he wouldn’t do that again. He would be better this time.

“You okay?” Len asked, appearing on the staircase and staring at Barry in concern. He was wearing black suit pants and was tugging his arms into the sleeves of a light grey button-up shirt, it was open still and showed off the bitemarks littering his torso.

He looked amazing.

Barry felt a chill run down his spine and light up his nerves at the thought that he had Len all to himself; and at that moment, he could imagine that they were in a real, committed, relationship. He could pretend that they were something more. He wasn’t doing that intentionally, mind you. He knew all too well how much worse the pain would be if he continued to allow himself these fantasies, but he just couldn’t help it. Now that he’d opened his eyes and seen the truth for what it was, his feelings had become difficult to ignore. It was only going to end in pain, though, if he didn’t pace himself. Even as it was, he knew that when he inevitably stepped out onto that porch and put distance between himself and Leonard Snart, it was going to tear him up a little inside.

But Barry didn’t know what else he could do. His choices were to either stop right here and now, go completely cold turkey from Len to save himself the pain later on. Or he could keep going, keep pretending everything was fine, until one day he broke down and told Len the truth. And on that day, he would just have to hope that Len reciprocated his feelings and didn’t just throw him out of here on his ass so fast that even Barry’s superspeed would struggle to keep up.

Those were the only options Barry had. And he knew that he should pick the former and just quit while he was ahead, but Barry just didn’t have the strength for that. Not today. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.

“Everything’s fine,” Barry lied, putting on a fake smile which he swore was getting more realistic by the day. He turned back to the TV pointedly. “But Mardon’s back, so I should probably head out now. I’ll shower at the lab.”

“Suit yourself,” Len shrugged, walking through the living room and into the kitchen. The casualness of that tore at Barry’s heart, causing him to wince. Fortunately – or _un_ fortunately, depending on how you looked at it – Len was no longer around to see it. Barry sighed and chugged the last of his drink before putting it down on from the coffee table, moving towards the front door while shaking his head and silently reprimanding himself for getting his hopes up – _again_ – about Len’s feelings. But then Len called for Barry from the kitchen. “Are you coming over tonight? I’ll make extra dinner.”

Barry’s heart fluttered stupidly in his chest.

“I should be here at seven,” he called back, unable to keep the grin off his face. Especially when Len reappeared in the doorway between the kitchen and living room to wink at him.

“It’s a date.”

And there were the butterflies again.

Barry laughed as though he meant it – as though it wasn’t painful – nodded, and left the house at superspeed.

He arrived back at STAR Labs to a full cortex.

Cisco and Caitlin were both sitting behind their computers, typing away and bringing up weather charts and CCTV footage as though nothing had changed. _Iris_ was even there, standing in front of the desk and analysing the information.

For a moment, Barry could only gape at his friends.

But then… “What are you guys doing here?”

Iris finally turned to look at him, answering his question with one of her own: “Did you see the news?”

“Weather Wizard is back,” Caitlin continued for her. “So, we figured we’d better get a head start on this.”

Cisco nodded his agreement with the others before lifting a box of pastries up to Barry’s face. “Danish?” Barry wanted to ignore the offer out of spite, but he hadn’t eaten anything – unless you counted Len’s ass – since last night. So, Barry accepted a pastry, but he made it clear he wasn’t happy about it.

Barry sighed and went to move around the desk to put himself more central in the room, but he stopped at the last second and took a step back instead, suddenly very conscious of the fact he hadn’t showered yet this morning.

Nor had he combed his hair.

He hadn’t brushed his teeth either.

Christ, just from the sight of him, they could probably tell that he’d spent all of last night bunkered down between Leonard Snart’s thighs!

Or… maybe only Cisco knew the name of whose thighs Barry had situated himself in between, but the rest of them must have been able to tell that there _was_ a name to be known.

Okay, Barry had officially reached the ‘overreacting so much that he stopped making sense’ part of his freak out. He needed to calm down. He bought himself a little time for that by stuffing the entire danish into his mouth all in one go.

In hindsight, that probably did nothing to make him appear less crazy to his friends.

“Team Flash is disbanded,” he reminded them all once he could finally speak again. “You guys shouldn’t be here.”

“Technically, neither should you,” Cisco rebutted, an unneeded reminder that being a vigilante, being the Flash, was technically illegal. “But we won’t tell if you don’t.”

Barry shook his head. “I want you all to leave.”

Unsurprisingly, Iris was the one to glare Barry down, standing up for the team.

“Barry, everyone in this room cares about you,” she said, but her voice wasn’t as soft as one might have thought. “But we also care about this city. We all want to make a difference, and that means fighting metahumans, and that means working with the Flash. You can’t deny us that.”

He shook his head, but Iris just turned back to Caitlin and Cisco, asking about unusual weather patterns.

Barry just paced the room, looking between his friends and trying to figure out how to make them see the truth for what it was; to see that Barry was bad for them, and being around him – being here in STAR Labs again – was going to bring them nothing but heartache.

But every time he tried to reason with them to leave, Iris would stand against him, and then the team would just keep on working. So, Barry figured that perhaps a one-on-one approach might work better. That was why he followed when he saw Cisco leave the cortex to grab a cup of coffee from their often-unused break room. He stood in the doorway as Cisco poured himself a mug and offered one to him. But Barry shook his head, suddenly reminded of the coffee which Len had graciously made him this morning, his stomach twisting as he realised that he hadn’t even gotten around to thanking Len for it. He’d have to send him a text.

But that was a job for a later time; right now, Barry had a different problem to tackle

“You guys are putting yourselves in danger by being here,” he said when Cisco turned around to face him.

“I mean, no more so than normal,” he shrugged off. He didn’t seem to get it, to get that Barry was only doing this for their own good. And while Barry was still trying to find the words to explain why this was a _bad idea_ , Cisco shook his head and started talking again. “Dude, we are an all-or-nothing deal here,” he said, crossing his arms, trying to channel some of Iris’ intimidation tactics. They worked a lot better on her than him, though. “You can’t just drop in to rant about how you’re falling in love with Captain Cold and not expect me to show back up here,” he insisted. “Clearly, you need some supervision.”

Barry tensed, anxious. “You didn’t tell them about that, did you?”

“Nah, man. I got your back,” Cisco said, and Barry was relieved to hear that until he followed it up with: “We’re a team.”

Barry sighed. “Cisco…”

“And we’re not leaving.”

He was forceful and unmoving about that in a way that Barry had never seen from Cisco before, and Barry sighed. This was all his fault. If he had just sucked it up and dealt with his feelings for Len silently, then Cisco never would have got it in his mind to return to STAR Labs. And now it seemed as though he’d made his mind up on staying, no matter how dangerous it was.

Cisco frowned. “You look like you need a hug but, honestly, you reek. Would it have killed you to have a shower?”

“I didn’t know you guys would be here!” Barry defended himself, but Cisco shook his head.

“That is no excuse for not looking after yourself.”

“That’s not what I –”

Barry didn’t get to finish that sentence as Cisco was already pushing him towards the hallway, demanding that he go wash up and change before everyone started realising that he stunk of sex. Barry just sighed and went on his way.

He was forced to accept it then; his friends were here for him, for Central City. They weren’t going to leave, and Barry didn’t know how to make them, or even if he _could_.

Barry showered and dressed into fresh clothes, staring himself down in the mirror for a moment and wondering how his life had ended up like this. How Leonard Snart had become the man he sought out for comfort while Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin he actively tried to keep away. Though that wasn’t a simple question to answer.

Eventually, Barry left the shower room, and ran directly into Iris, standing in the corridor and waiting for him.

“Much better,” she said, nodding at Barry’s freshly cleaned appearance. “Now I don’t need to hold my breath when you’re in the room.”

“Har, har,” Barry muttered, rolling his eyes and walking away, down the corridor towards the cortex. Iris followed close by.

Though she really wasn’t pulling any punches today as she grinned at Barry and said: “So, are you going to tell me who you’re sleeping with?”

“I… _What_?!” Barry choked out, nearly tripping over his own feet in surprise. He laughed, trying to cover up his nerves. “That’s crazy, I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Come on, Barr,” she whined. _Actually_ whined, like a child being deprived of their toy. “You don’t tell me anything anymore! When did you start keeping so many secrets from your best friend?”

That was a low blow. She didn’t often bring up the fact that he’d kept his identity a secret from her for seven months, so when she did… it hit harder.

Barry thought that was deliberate.

He stopped walking.

This was a bad idea.

No… this was a _terrible_ idea!

Iris would never look at Barry the same way again if he told her the truth about his relationship with Len… But she just kept looking at him with those big, pleading eyes and…

“It’s Leonard Snart.”

She immediately chocked on her own spit.

“I…” Iris gasped. “I wasn’t expecting that.” Surprisingly, she didn’t look angry. A little freaked, sure; but not angry. That gave Barry some hope.

He smiled. “Yeah, neither was Cisco when I told him,” he laughed. Iris gave him a questioning look then, and Barry shrugged, looking down at his sneakers nervously. “This thing with Len… I’m really starting to like him–” that could have probably won an award for the understatement of the century “–and I needed someone to talk to about that.”

“Are you kidding me?” Iris asked, sounding a little more annoyed now. Probably the shock was beginning to wear off. Or perhaps she was okay with the idea of sleeping with the enemy, but drew the line at falling for him? Though, when Barry looked back up, the expression on her face confused him. She was clearly peeved about it, but she was also smiling. “You went to _Cisco_ for dating advice?”

“I mean…” Barry shrugged, “he wasn’t _terrible_.” Some of the things Cisco’d had to say were reasonable.

“That’s not what I meant,” she said, shaking her head. “Why didn’t you come to me?” Though the second Iris spoke the words, she seemed to realise the answer: Eddie. Sorrow filled her eyes, though she managed to keep the smile on her face, even if it did diminish slightly. “You don’t need to coddle me, Barr. I’ll be okay.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it _coddling_ ,” Barry muttered. He was just trying to look out for her; for _all_ of them.

But he understood where she was coming from. Eddie was gone, and he wasn’t coming back, but Iris couldn’t just stop living because of that. She needed to keep going.

For him.

For the sacrifice that he had made.

But also, for herself and her own wellbeing. Iris was so much more than just the man she was in love with, she was her own woman and had hopes and dreams beyond her relationships, and Barry remembered that treating her differently as though she was going to break wasn’t going to help her move forward. It was only going to cause her more pain.

“I’m sorry,” he said earnestly, feeling the apology truly deep in his soul. Iris just smiled tightly and waved it away, but Barry thought perhaps it had helped. He hoped that it had.

“So, back to Snart,” Iris said, trying to move the conversation on. She leant back against the wall in the corridor, so Barry copied her on the other side so they could face each other as they spoke. “What’s that like?”

“It’s…” Barry sighed and shook his head. “It’s difficult to explain.”

“You like him,” Iris said. It wasn’t a question because she already knew the answer, more of a prod for additional information.

Barry dropped his eyes to the floor between them. “I love him.”

Just speaking those words aloud sent a shiver across his skin, making the hairs on his arms stand up to attention.

“It’s that serious?” Iris asked, and Barry nodded.

“Yeah… I mean, no. But…” he sighed and lifted his gaze to meet Iris’ again. “It’s supposed to just be casual,” he explained, his stomach flipping anxiously. “But I guess I just don’t really do casual very well.”

Iris burst out laughing at that as though it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Barry just blinked at her and waited until her mirth had died down, it took a while though, and he found a smile pulling at his own lips in response.

“I’m sorry, it’s just,” Iris snorted and shook her head. “You actually thought you could have a causal relationship?” She laughed again, and Barry blushed. It wasn’t technically an insult, but it kind of felt like one anyway with the way she was laughing at him. But then she calmed again, wiping a literal tear from her eye, and grinning at Barry as though he was a fool. “Barry Allen, you are the most heart-led man I have ever met. I didn’t think you even knew the meaning of the word casual.”

“I honestly can’t tell if this is some kind of pep-talk or if you’re berating me.”

“Neither,” Iris said, still smiling wide. “You are who you are, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of that.”

Barry smiled his thanks, feeling a little knot inside his chest begin to loosen.

“So, I’m guessing Snart doesn’t know how you feel?” she asked, and Barry confirmed her suspicions with a shake of his head. “Then I guess we better capture you your criminal’s heart.”

Barry groaned.

“You’re as bad as Len,” he muttered, but he wasn’t about to turn down her help, so he just nodded for Iris to continue.

“Okay then, game plan… when will you see him again?”

“Seven.”

Iris paused. “Tonight?”

“Yeah… Is that too soon? Should I be playing hard to get?”

“No,” Iris laughed. “I think you’re doing pretty great.” Her words were warm and comforting, making Barry smile. “Okay, I guess we only have eleven hours until the big night, we’d better get you ready.”

“For what?”

“To blow him away.”

“I’ve already done that,” Barry joked and then immediately face-palmed. Len’s flirtatious sense of humour was really beginning to rub off on him.

“It is a damn good thing that you’re so cute,” Iris said, a sly smile on her face as she looked to be holding back another bout of barely controlled laughter.

However, her words weren’t nearly as reassuring as she seemed to think.

“I don’t really think ‘ _cute_ ’ is what Len wants,” Barry said, but Iris shook her head.

“Well, it hasn’t failed you so far,” she insisted. “But don’t worry, like I said, we have eleven hours to prep for everything else.”

Barry smiled, beginning to feel at ease with his friend’s comforting words.

Though, as it would turn out… all of their preparation was just going to head straight down the drain…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter was quite a bit slower than the others, but now there's only one more left! :D


	6. Chapter 6

The clock on the stove read 19:19, and Len’s stew had been ready for a while now, but Barry wasn’t here yet. That wasn’t a big deal though, Len just turned the heat down as far as it would go and left the pot simmering away.

Barry was usually reasonably punctual for their... whatever it was that they were doing.

This morning, Len had called it a date. It was supposed to have been a joke. But, well, it kind of _did_ feel like a date. He and Barry weren’t only screwing around anymore, they were...

Len honestly didn’t know what they were.

But he knew what they _weren’t_ , and they weren’t serious. Len didn’t _do_ serious relationships; everything just got too messy when emotions were involved. And Len figured that Barry Allen would be no exception there. Actually, he’d probably be the worst of the lot. The kid was just bursting to the rim with _feelings_. He seemed to feel so strongly about so much and so many... it must be exhausting.

Len didn’t do that.

There were only two people he cared about — _truly_ cared about — and they were Lisa and Mick, in that order. He also cared about his cold gun and the persona he’d built around it... but that was an entirely different matter. Outside of the aforementioned, Len cared for nothing and nobody, and that was just the way he liked it.

He moved back to the cooker to stir the stew. The clock read 19:23.

Len put the lid back onto the pot and grabbed his phone, wondering if perhaps the time was wrong. It wasn’t.

Barry had never been late before. Especially never twenty-three minutes late. Despite his perpetually tardy nature, he always managed to show up at Len’s house precisely when he said he would. Though, Len had to remind himself that this time Barry had only said he would be here at ‘ _about_ seven o’clock’, and that was fairly vague. So, perhaps in the Flash’s eyes, he wasn’t late at all?

That was annoying.

Len had said that he was making dinner for the two of them. Didn’t Barry know it was rude to keep a man waiting like this?

It would serve him right if Len just sat down to eat without him.

He didn’t, though.

As the clock turned 19:25, Len sent Barry a quick text to ask where he was. Not in an overbearing way, of course, because Len didn’t care if Barry showed up or not tonight. He didn’t. He just needed to know what was going on. If Barry wasn’t coming, then Len would rather not be left hanging around. He would happily just eat now and spend his night preparing for his next heist instead, rather than wasting his time waiting around.

That was all this was about.

Barry still hadn’t replied by the time that Len checked his phone at 19:34.

He wasn’t worried.

He was just hungry.

That was what that feeling like a pit in his stomach was, that was why he couldn’t stop pacing back and forth inside the kitchen; Len was hungry.

He had to get his mind off Barry and the food bubbling away for them on the stove, or else his stomach might just feel worse. There was a newspaper resting on his coffee table, so Len moved into the living room and sat down with it. He’d started the crossword earlier while bored, but he’d never got around to finishing it, so Len began filling in the answers again now.

Except, he got stuck on the first word, his mind flickering back without his will to the pot on the stove and the unanswered text on his phone.

Len moved onto the next clue, and then the next, and then the next one after that before he finally was able to focus long enough to come up with an answer that fit inside the boxes. He moved back to the first clue again and discovered that one was actually pretty easy… he didn’t understand why he hadn’t put it together earlier.

Though, of course, that was a lie. Len knew that the reason he had struggled was that his mind had been elsewhere, thinking about… about food.

He stood and dropped the paper and pen back onto the coffee table, moving back into the kitchen to stir the pot on the stove again.

The clock read 19:45. Len still hadn’t received a text from Barry.

He wasn’t fretting over it, though.

He wasn’t worried; he was _angry_.

If Barry wasn’t going to show tonight, the least he could do was send a courtesy text so that Len didn’t end up making all this food for no reason!

How inconsiderate could a man be?!

Len turned off the stove, furious; he didn’t feel like eating anymore.

He went back to the living room and turned the TV on, flicking through the channels, but not finding a damn thing on that could keep his mind off of how God damn angry he was at Barry Allen.

Len switched to local news and watched for a few minutes, wondering whether Barry would at least have a decent excuse for standing Len up – not that Len could really say he was ‘ _stood up’_ , since they weren’t dating – like maybe the Flash was saving a burning down orphanage or something. The news station had a ‘Flash Watch’ section rotating around with the top features to the right of the screen, sharing photos and headlines from the latest Scarlet Speedster spotting’s. It had started as a novelty thing a few months back but, apparently, the citizens of Central City lapped up any and every new content they could find about their favourite vigilante. And Len… well, Len found it in his best interest to keep tabs on the Flash’s comings and goings was all.

But now he was paying close attention, waiting for that news segment to come around.

And when it did, Len grit his teeth. There hadn’t been an update there for _hours_.

It didn’t mean that Barry wasn’t out there right now as the Flash. Maybe he was just going unnoticed for the time being?

Still, it didn’t do anything to calm Len’s anger. He quickly turned off the TV and picked his phone back up again.

The time was 19:53. Len still hadn’t heard back from Barry. He wasn’t…

He didn’t…

He…

 _Fuck_.

He _was_ worried.

Len didn’t know when it had happened, but he’d actually started to care about Barry Allen. He wanted to just shrug this off, perhaps laugh at himself for developing feelings for the Flash, belittle the situation so that it didn’t scream so loudly in his ear. But he couldn’t.

Barry was out there somewhere, not answering his texts, and Len could just tell there was something amiss here. And the longer that he just sat here and pretended like nothing was wrong, the longer Barry could be going without aid.

He was the Flash, a superhero constantly getting in over his own head. And right now, he didn’t have a team. There was no one sitting there in STAR Labs watching over him, no one to back him up.

So, Len would have to do it himself.

He stood up from the sofa and pulled a pair of boots on. His parka was hanging up at the bottom of his stairs, but the cold gun and goggle were up, locked away in a safe at the back of his closet. He rushed towards the staircase now.

There was a soft knock on the front door.

Len froze in his steps and frowned, checking the time once again.

19:55.

Slowly, Len approached the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.

Barry was standing there on his porch, a dopy smile on his face and a cut above his eye, but otherwise unharmed. Or so Len thought.

“Sorry I’m late,” Barry said, sounding only slightly breathless but otherwise normal, and Len felt the tension drain out of his own shoulders. Barry took a step forward, but then his leg seemed to give out on him, and he fell into the doorway. Len reached out for him, steadying him, but Barry only winced at his touch.

It was then that Len saw the bruising peeking up from beneath Barry’s shirt collar. Len didn’t think twice before tugging the material down and getting a better look at the purple and yellow skin covering Barry’s chest.

“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?” Len demanded as he guided a weakened Barry Allen into his house.

“Mardon…” Barry shook his head, and Len felt sick. Mark Mardon had done this…

The same Mark Mardon who Len had allowed to escape only last month.

Len led Barry to sit down on the couch and then quickly undid all of the buttons on his shirt, exposing more and more of his bruised and broken skin before Len reached a large bandage covering Barry’s midriff.

That surprised him; it was taped up all the way around Barry’s side, in nice neat lines, looking professionally wrapped.

“Your team’s back?” he asked, and Barry nodded. That news, at least, was calming. However… “And they let you leave like this?!”

“I’m fine,” Barry insisted. And, Christ, if this was Barry’s definition of ‘ _fine_ ’ then Len would hate to see what he was like when he was in a bad state.

So, Len kept pushing. “Which of your legs is hurt?”

“Len, I… I didn’t come here for this.”

No. He was here for sex. That was what their whole relationship was about, after all; they weren’t anything _real_.

That thought shouldn’t have made Len feel nauseous, but it did. Mostly because Len couldn’t imagine ignoring Barry’s obvious pain and sleeping with him anyway. That just wasn’t his style.

“Which leg?”

Barry just sighed and gave in. “It’s my right ankle.”

Len looked down at the speedster’s feet, only just then realising that Barry was wearing large wide-fit boots instead of his usual sneakers. He reached down to Barry’s right foot and gently lifted it onto the coffee table, pulling the boot off and tossing it aside. His ankle was fully bandaged, but the swelling underneath was obvious even if he couldn’t see the bruising seeping out along Barry’s skin.

“Don’t move,” he ordered as he stood up and walked away from Barry into the kitchen. He grabbed a couple of clean dish towels and a bag of frozen peas before quickly returning to the living room, glad to see Barry had heeded his advice and hadn’t moved an inch. Though he did look considerably sheepish about the whole matter, which might have been kind of cute if he wasn’t beaten black and blue.

Len perched himself down on the coffee table next to Barry’s injured foot, busying himself by wrapping the frozen peas inside a cloth. When he pressed it to Barry’s skin, the man hissed in pain and Len’s stomach twisted for him.

Even more so once he realised that Barry had _run all the way here_ on this ankle!

“You know that you could have just called tonight off, right?”

Barry grimaced, though Len couldn’t say whether that was in pain or simply dislike of Len’s suggestion. “I didn’t want to.”

That was surprisingly heart-warming. That Barry would still choose to spend his time with Leonard even though his team was back again… Len didn’t know how to process that, so he just decided to ignore it in favour of concentrating on Barry’s swollen ankle.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I made stew,” he muttered. “The king of comfort food.”

“It smells great,” Barry said, his stomach growling loudly as though to emphasise his words, and Len laughed.

“I’ll get you a bowl,” he promised, balancing the peas on Barry’s ankle as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed two soup bowls and lifted the lid on the pot, the food still steaming hot inside. He filled both of the bowls up, one of them – Barry’s bowl – all the way to the top, leaving enough stew left for one more giant bowl. There had been more, but the extra hour of cooking had caused the broth to bubble down too much.

It would have been fine if it was any normal day. But, considering how much energy Barry was sure to be using right now trying to heal up, he’d likely need much more than that tonight… Len decided that he should probably order for delivery too. He didn’t relish the idea of anyone recognising him here in his real home, but what other choice did he have? Len wasn’t about to leave Barry like this while he went to collect his order, Lisa was out of town, and Mick would just tell him to go screw himself…

But Mick might just do it if Lisa asked him to… He’d always been a little less volatile around her, would do anything she asked of him as though she was his sister too.

Len sighed and dug his phone out of his pocket.

To: ** _Lisa_**  
Sent: **_20:07 pm_**  
**Get Mick to pick up as much as he can carry from Pho’s and bring it to the house asap, no questions asked. And tomorrow I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about the Flash**

Len sent the text and then thought better of it.

To: **_Lisa_**  
Sent: **_20:07 pm_**  
**Anything except for his identity**

Lisa’s reply was almost instantaneous.

NEW MESSAGE From: **_Lisa_**  
Received: **_20:07 pm_**  
**Spoilsport :(  
But deal.**

Len just shoved the phone back inside his jeans, grabbed some bread and spoons, and took the bowls back out into the living room, sitting down beside Barry on the sofa.

“Here,” he said as he offered the bowl over; Barry eagerly accepted the food and dug right in. Len, however, wasn’t all that interested in eating anymore and took his time dipping his bread into the stew while examining Barry’s injuries. From the looks of the bruising on Barry’s chest, the kid had some extensively broken ribs, though he brushed it off as though it was nothing. Len supposed that he had a high tolerance for pain by now. Still, his breathing became a little wheezy while he devoured his food, not taking enough time to breathe between bites.

And the bandage on Barry’s side? It was clean, but Len could only imagine that whatever injury Barry had sustained there had been a bad one. Barry fidgeted a little under Len’s attention, looking uncomfortable, so Len lifted his eyes to Barry’s face instead.

“What happened?” he asked, and Barry frowned down into his stew, moving a chunk of carrot around with his spoon. He didn’t seem to want to meet Len’s eyes.

“We tracked Mardon to his hideout using the satellite to identify weird weather patterns,” Barry said. “But surprising him at a safe house is kind of how I captured him the first time, so I guess he was prepared for me today.” Barry laughed briefly, wincing at the pain it must have caused with his ribs. “I’m not sure if you know this, but hail and lightning is a pretty dangerous combination, especially when the hail is the size of your fist. Remember that scene in _The Day After Tomorrow_? I think Mardon took some pointers from it.”

Well, that certainly explained all the bruising and seemingly broken bones.

Barry stared sullenly down into his bowl before finally taking that last bite. “There’s not really all that much else to say.”

“He got away?” Len asked, and Barry nodded. That didn’t sit well in Len’s stomach. “So, you’ll be going after him again?”

Surprisingly, Barry shook his head.

“Not likely,” he said. “When I woke up at STAR Labs, Cisco told me they tracked Mardon to a train station. They hacked the cameras and saw him get on board, heading for Coast City and carrying the same duffle bag he’d used to rob the bank. I doubt he’ll be back anytime soon.”

That was a relief to hear. Len didn’t want to see Barry hurt, didn’t like the thought of it, though he knew it was kind of an occupational hazard. Barry was going to get injured from time to time, and there was nothing Len could do to stop that.

But at least, for now, he was safe and healing.

“More stew?” Len offered, and Barry nodded.

“Please.”

Len placed his own bowl down and went to fill Barry’s up with the last from the pot. He checked his phone and saw texts from Lisa and Mick sitting unread, both of them confirming that Mick was on his way with food – though, Mick chose to use a lot more colourful language than Lisa had.

He returned to Barry and passed his bowl over.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, and Barry gave a shrug and winced, instantly regretting the movement.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

“Ouch,” Barry muttered, looking as though he was trying for a joke, but Len didn’t find it funny.

“You should be more careful,” he chastised, and Barry shook his head.

“You sound like Oliver.”

“Oliver?” Len questioned, momentarily thrown-off, and Barry’s eyes went comically wide as though the name had just slipped from his tongue without him realising. Len’s stomach twisted. “Should I be jealous?”

From the way that Barry burst into laughter next, Len took his answer as a strong ‘ _no_ ’.

Barry seemed to make a considerable effort to stop laughing, his eyes screwing up in pain while he grabbed at his injured side, but still, it took him a while for the mirth to die down. Len waited silently throughout, watching Barry’s every twitch for signs of how injured he really was.

Finally, Barry’s laughter faded, and he shook his head.

“No. No, Oliver’s a friend,” he said, then winced. “Not friend as in how you and I are friends,” he was quick to correct. “More like my friendship with Cisco, you know. If Cisco was a few inches taller and filled with barely-controlled rage.”

Len squinted.

He wasn’t so sure that he liked this Oliver guy, and at least half of that was because he’d never heard about him before. If this man was close enough to Barry to know his secret – which seemed likely based on the little information Barry had offered up about him – then why didn’t Len know anything about him? In all of those months of surveillance after he’d uncovered the Flash’s identity, Len had never seen Barry meet up with anyone named Oliver before…

That was suspicious in and of itself.

Barry didn’t seem to like the way Len was studying him, because he dipped his gaze down to his bowl of stew and began to eat again. Len decided to let the subject drop.

For now.

Instead, he moved onto examining Barry’s injuries. First, he lifted the melted bag of peas from Barry’s ankle, unwrapping the damp bandage and examining the swelling underneath. Although Len hadn’t really _seen_ it properly underneath the bandage, he was pretty happy with how it looked now: the bruises were fading, and the swelling was minimal.

Len pressed his fingers gently against the inflamed muscle, and Barry flinched back, not yanking his foot completely out of Len’s reach, but definitely pulling away at a spark of pain.

“How much does it hurt?” he asked, though, of course, Barry just shook his head and denied feeling any pain there at all.

Len rolled his jaw in annoyance, feeling the sudden urge to squeeze on a little tighter at Barry’s ankle, just to prove a point. And if it were Mick he was looking after, Len probably would have done just that. But the thought of doing it to Barry made Len cringe instinctively. It wasn’t that he felt Barry needed more protecting than Mick did, or that he wasn’t as strong, but the thought of needlessly causing him extra pain wasn’t a happy one to have.

So, instead, Len said: “You don’t have to play tough with me.”

“Who’s playing?” Barry joked, and Len gave him a flat look for it until Barry sighed. “Sorry,” he muttered, dropping his gaze to his lap. Len leant forward and tipped his chin back up so their eyes could meet again.

With great effort, he continued as though Barry had never interrupted him.

“You’re not unbreakable, and the people who care about you... your friends, your family—” Len nearly stopped there, but he couldn’t allow himself that luxury. Not tonight “—me.” The green in Barry’s eyes seemed to grow brighter at the confession. “We’re not going to stop worrying about you out there but lying about it is only going to make things worse.”

“I care about you too,” Barry said, completely missing the point — though, admittedly, Len’s heart did give little leap at Barry’s words.

“Then don’t lie to me,” Len begged, and – with what looked to be a great amount of effort – Barry nodded.

“The pain isn’t that bad anymore,” he said honestly. “It’s getting better.” Barry’s words, and the clear truth that Len could hear behind them, helped to ease his worry.

Len nodded.

The peas were barely even cold anymore, just a wet mulch inside the bag, so Len threw them out, and while he was standing, he also got some clean towels and fresh bandages. He moved back to the living room and silently, carefully, dried Barry’s ankle before wrapping it back up.

By the time Len was finished with his ankle, Barry had finished off the last of the stew, so he wordlessly took the bowl away and was about to begin fully examining the bruises and bandage on Barry’s torso. But then the doorbell rang.

Barry seemed a little spooked by it, but Len shook his head and gave Barry’s knee a quick reassuring squeeze as he stood to answer the door, purposefully making sure not to push it open too wide so that Mick wouldn’t be able to see Barry resting on the sofa. Not that Mick looked too inclined to be peering inside Len’s house as he stood on the porch, holding two takeout bags and looking like Len had personally pissed in his beer.

“Next time get your own damn soup,” he grumbled, pushing the bags into Len’s hands. “God knows why you’d want so much of this crap.” Mick never had been much for Vietnamese food; Len blamed his dad for that one. “You owe me $80 bucks.”

Len had a few hundred in his wallet, but he figured that if he tried to pay Mick now, his friend would probably deck Len for making him feel like a delivery boy.

“I’ll let you pick the next job,” Len said instead. Well, the next job after the art museum heist they were going to pull next week, but Len didn’t want to talk about that here, not with Barry so close.

Mick nodded, grumbling to himself inaudibly as he turned to leave.

Len closed the door and brought the containers to Barry, who seemed to not quite know whether he was excited at the prospect of more food or confused by it. But he gladly accepted the bags and began digging out containers while Len skimmed his eyes across the receipt to see what Mick had bought. It was pretty standard stuff; a few different variations of noodle soup, a grilled duck salad, some sticky caramel ribs, a vegetable stir fry, and several different types of rolls and dumplings with a selection of dipping sauces. Those were what Barry reached for first. Len leant over and pinched one of the shrimp dumplings for himself.

He didn’t move to sit down next to Barry again, though. Instead, he finished his dumpling and hovered at the arm of the sofa, pulling purposefully at Barry’s sleeves.

“Come on, shirt off,” he demanded, and Barry blinked up at him for a moment, mouth stuffed full of spring rolls. Eventually, Barry shifted forward on the seat and Len helped him out of the shirt without pulling too much at any of his injuries.

Then Len gestured for Barry to carry on eating as he crouched down on the floor and gently prodded at each of Barry’s ribs, checking for breaks.

“Caitlin already did all of this, you know,” Barry muttered, and Len nodded. He had no doubt that Doctor Snow had taken the best of care with Barry, but Len still felt the need to go over it again anyway. Just in case. And he didn’t think he’d be able to rest properly until he’d carefully examined all of Barry’s injuries.

Len didn’t explain that, though. Instead, he just asked how the takeout was, knowing full well that Barry was the biggest foodie he had ever met – that probably had something to do with his insatiable hunger though, so Len wasn’t judging – and could probably talk for hours about it if he felt so inclined.

So, Len just sat back and examined Barry’s bruised and broken torso while the kid ate all the food he could, as fast as he could without hurting himself further or obstructing his ability to breathe. Len listened and nodded along while his fingers roamed carefully over Barry’s torso, identifying two points where his ribs were cracked. Though he bet that there had been more damage earlier which was already healed…

That thought wasn’t a comforting one.

By the time Len got to the bandage on Barry’s side, the kid had seemingly run out of things to say about the spiced duck and was instead sitting there, looking increasingly uncomfortable. For a moment, Len worried that he was overstepping here and that he should back off. After all, Barry’s injuries were nothing to do with him, and Len had no business looking after him if he didn’t want it.

But just as Len was about to pull away, Barry turned to him and said something he wasn’t expecting.

“So, you’re still pulling heists?” he asked, seemingly out of the blue. Len frowned and watched as Barry casually pushed the food around in the container, acting as though the question was entirely harmless.

Len hoped that was true.

“I am,” he said carefully, and Barry nodded.

“Oh, yeah, that’s cool,” Barry shrugged. He lifted his eyes to meet Len’s, but then quickly dropped them back down to his dinner again. “I mean, I kind of guessed, since I overheard what you told Mick earlier. I just… I hadn’t heard of Captain Cold pulling any jobs lately, so…” He shrugged again.

Len sat back on his haunches and examined Barry carefully, wondering whether or not this whole evening was about to blow up in his face.

“I’ve been planning something big,” Len admitted. “So, I haven’t had much time for anything else lately.” Well, nothing other than Barry, that is.

Usually, when Len was in the midst of his planning, he didn’t allow himself any distractions. He’d barely even see anything of Mick or Lisa until he had everything finely tuned and ready to go. But Barry, it seemed, was the exception that proves the rule.

He just didn’t know it.

And, honestly, Len hadn’t really known it either. Not until this very moment.

“Oh?” Barry said, chewing on his lip for a moment. “Something big, huh? There’s no… uhm… You’re not going to…”

“Kill anyone?” Len asked, figuring that was where this was heading. Barry visibly flinched, but then finally lifted his gaze to meet Len’s again.

“I was going to say ‘ _break our deal_ ’… but yeah,” he admitted, and Len nodded. He wasn’t surprised that this was the first thing Barry’s mind jumped to, but it did make his chest feel all twisted up. He didn’t want Barry to think of him as a ruthless murderer. Not anymore. Though Len knew that the reason Barry did think that was completely his own fault. He hadn’t shied away from doing whatever it took to keep himself on top in the past, and those actions would still haunt him sometimes.

“No one’s going to get hurt,” Len promised, though he didn’t truly expect Barry to believe him, so he was surprised when Barry’s shoulders instantly dropped in relief. Surprised that Barry would just take his word for it, even though the last time Len had promised something to Barry, he had instantly backtracked on it and betrayed him.

And yet Barry was still willing to trust Len.

It should have been a weakness, but – somehow – Len just found it endearing.

“Okay,” Barry said, and Len nodded. He quickly dropped his eyes back to the bandage on Barry’s torso, carefully peeling it back to get a look at what lay underneath.

Unsurprisingly, Len found a large scar running across Barry’s side. It looked old and faded like it had been from an injury made many years ago, though Len knew that wasn’t true. It hadn’t been there last night, and it wouldn’t be there tomorrow morning either. That was just one of the many perks of super healing – no one could see the pain you’d been through.

Though just because the scars disappeared from Barry’s skin, didn’t mean that they were actually gone. They might not be visible, but they were still there, etched into Barry’s memories.

Len wondered briefly how many scars Barry would have if he couldn’t heal.

He wondered how many of them would be from Len’s hand.

It wasn’t an image worth considering.

Len abruptly changed his line of thought and the topic in general by picking up the TV remote and telling Barry to put on whatever he wanted. He happily brought up Len’s Netflix and began to flick through titles while Len continued to look over the marks on Barry’s skin, not paying any attention to what film he chose. Len took the bandage off Barry’s body completely and cleaned the area with antiseptic wipes, though he didn’t bother to cover it back up again afterwards. There was no point; the wound wasn’t open anymore and would probably be gone within the hour.

Finally, Len stood up and threw away the empty containers and old bandages. By the time he was back in the living room, Barry had shrugged his shirt back on over his shoulders and was buttoning it up again. Len re-joined him on the sofa, and the kid instantly twisted around to rest his head on Len’s shoulder.

“Do I look like a cushion to you?” Len joked, reaching around Barry to steal the last eggroll out of the takeout box.

“We both know you like to cuddle,” Barry said brazenly. “Stop lying to yourself.”

Len just huffed a short laugh and wrapped his arm around Barry while pretending to watch the TV. But, in truth, Len’s mind was far too preoccupied to pay any real attention to the film – which, as it turned out, was one of those superhero movies which everyone seemed to be going crazy about lately. Len hadn’t watched any of them yet, but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that Barry was a fan, even though he seemed to be a remarkably better hero than any of those depicted on screen.

But Leonard couldn’t process all of the bickering between heroes happening on-screen, because his attention just kept zoning in on the feeling of Barry resting against him; the way Barry snuggled in against Len’s body, how his soft hair felt brushing against Len’s jaw, and the rise and fall of his chest while he breathed. In fact, that last one was _incredibly_ distracting, especially when Barry would occasionally shift in a way that pulled at his injured ribs and muscles, and his breathing would become momentarily laboured. And when that happened, it was the only thing that Len could hear.

At one point, Len began to rub soothing circles against his arm. Barry seemed to sink into his touch. For a moment, they were both completely silent and still, then Barry sighed and pressed his head a little further against Len’s body.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, sounding remorseful.

Len frowned. “For what?”

“For being a shitty date tonight,” Barry laughed, though it sounded too tight. “I’m sure you had something much more exciting planned than bandaging me up.”

“Who needs exciting?” Len easily countered. “Sometimes, all you need is good food and good company.”

“And which am I? The company, or the _snack_?”

Len smiled. He’d never heard that turn of phrase before, but he was pretty confident he knew what it meant.

“Maybe both.”

Barry seemed to like that answer if the way he snuggled closer against Len was anything to go by. He wasn’t resting his head on Len’s shoulder now, but his chest as he’d dug himself completely underneath Len’s arm, his own hands wrapped around Len’s waist.

Len wanted to pretend that he was suffering from this extra contact and only barely putting up with it, but he wasn’t. Barry was right; Len wasn’t as opposed to cuddling as he pretended. Or, at least, he wasn’t when it was with Barry Allen. Barry gained happiness from physical comfort, and Len liked when Barry was happy. So, he liked this too. He liked the warm press of Barry’s body against his. It was comfortable.

And perhaps Len enjoyed it just a little too much tonight. But after the worry he’d worked himself into earlier when Barry hadn’t shown up on time, and after Len had been proven _right_ to have been concerned… Having his little speedster under his arm again now felt different than ever before. It mattered more. Now that Len knew how close he could have been to just never seeing Barry again, it mattered _more_.

Len did his best not to think about that, not to give any more thought to that feeling aching away in his chest. He tried to just watch the film.

But the thing was, Len was great at acting as though nothing affecting him, but he wasn’t so good at internalising that. He cared, a lot, even when he didn’t want to. And he didn’t want to care about the Flash.

But he did.

And so, no, he was struggling to give a damn about the three heroes fighting amongst each other in the woods. He didn’t care about any of them, their motives, their stories. He didn’t care about this film. Except, of course, that Barry had picked the movie and was clearly enjoying it as he continued huffing out laughs at the jokes. And Len…

Well, Len wanted to get his mind off of Barry, and he also, secretly and counter-productively, wanted to share in the things which made him happy.

“So, who is he?” Len asked, having barely paid any attention to the plot of the film so far but hoping to catch up now to avoid thinking about his feelings for one Scarlet Speedster.

“You mean Loki?” Barry asked, though he didn’t lift his head from Len’s chest to do so. The character in question was currently being marched through a hallway on-screen, while all the characters shot him scandalised looks. “He’s the God of Mischief; Thor’s brother.” Len made a non-committal sound at the back of his throat, which Barry seemed to – correctly – take to mean ‘ _I have no idea who Thor is either_ ’. “Thor’s the blond guy with the cape, really powerful… I’ll point him out.”

But there had only been one blond guy in a cape show up so far, so Len already knew which character Barry was talking about and frowned at the idea that he was so powerful. Seemed like a hack to Len.

Maybe that was why he said: “You could take him.”

Barry instantly burst out into a self-deprecating laugh.

“I got my ass handed to me by Weather Wizard tonight,” he reminded Len, “but you think I could beat up the _God of Thunder_?”

“With my help, why not?”

“Sounds like you’re offering to join the Light Side of the Force after all,” Barry joked. Len stayed quiet. He would have shrugged but, well, he didn’t want to jostle Barry’s head. However, his silence was very telling in itself, and soon Barry was lifting his head to stare at him in shock. “Len?” He actually sounded concerned, as though he thought Len might have hit his head and was talking nonsense.

But Leonard just really didn’t want to see Barry hurt again.

“Maybe, if you find yourself in over your head again... I could be there to back you up,” he offered, and Barry’s look of surprise quickly broke into one of excitement instead. “Get that grin off your face,” Len muttered, rolling his eyes. “This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being a thief. I just don’t want to see you dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“My hero,” Barry cooed, and Len glared.

“Forget it, I take it back.”

“Nope. No taksies backsies. That’s the rule.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Len bemoaned, but Barry just kept staring him down until, eventually, Len sighed and nodded. “No takesies backsies,” he promised in an extremely serious voice, which was pretty damn difficult to achieve actually. But it made Barry laugh, and that was all Len wanted right now; to see the kid smile. He was so gorgeous when he smiled, even when covered in bruises.

Len cupped Barry’s face, lifting his thumb to trace the fading cut above his eyebrow for a moment before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss there.

And then, because Len didn’t really know why he’d let himself do that or what he wanted to do next, he just turned back to the TV and grumbled at Barry to watch the movie. So, Barry settled back down underneath Len’s arm, and they watched the ending together. Or… Barry watched the ending. Len just kind of stared blankly at the general direction of the TV and tried to think about something other than the mess of emotions swirling in the pit of his stomach.

By the time the end credits began to roll. Barry’s breathing had already begun to slow, and Len himself was beginning to feel the pull of sleep tugging at his eyes. So, he just switched off the TV and threaded his fingers through Barry’s hair, brushing it off his face. Barry blinked his sleepy green eyes up at him, and Len leant down to press a kiss on his cheek.

“Come on,” he said, voice soft. “Let’s get you to bed.”

[] [] []

When Barry woke up the next morning, he felt… different. Not physically – though, yes, physically, Barry had healed up from last night’s fight, so he was technically different there too – but mentally. It took him a moment to pinpoint what had changed.

Then he turned over in bed, and he saw Len lying there, watching him, and Barry remembered what had happened.

He remembered the kind words, the soft touches, the abundant worry.

And Barry also remembered what _hadn’t_ happened last night.

They hadn’t had sex.

Len had comforted Barry, wrapped his wounds, taken him to bed… and then they’d gone to sleep.

Nothing else had happened.

This was new territory. And not only that, but it was several months ahead of Barry’s plan. He’d hoped that they could get to a point in their relationship where they could see each other just for the sake of being around one another, where sex wasn’t so central to being together, but Barry had never thought that day would come so soon.

“Good morning,” Len greeted as though today was just like any other day. Barry gave him a smile, feeling it pull too tightly at his lips, so probably not convincing at all, but Barry couldn’t help that. It had been easier to go along with everything last night with minimal questions, considering how tired and injured he was. But now, in the harsh light of the day, Barry was struggling a little. “How are you feeling?”

Barry nodded wordlessly, but then he realised that that was not going to pass this morning. After everything that happened last night, Len seemed to need some verbal confirmation that he was okay.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine,” Barry said. He didn’t need to look down at his chest to confirm the bruises and gash were all gone, but he did so anyway and then nodded at Len again. “All healed.”

“Glad to hear it,” Len said, rolling closer to Barry and pressing their lips together. Barry sighed into the kiss, feeling his tension leave his shoulders, sure that last night had just been a blip for Len and that now everything was going to get back to normal.

But then, instead of his hand slowly wandering down Barry’s body and teasing him until his dick stirred to life – like one might have expected this morning to go, especially since they hadn’t had sex last night – Len pulled away.

“Do you want to shower in the ensuite, and I’ll use the main?” he asked, and Barry just kind of blinked at him for a moment, his mind swimming uncomfortably. Eventually, he nodded – though that was more because Len was waiting for an answer, and not because showering separately was how Barry wanted to spend this morning – so Len pressed one last soft kiss to his lips and rolled off the bed. He was only wearing a pair of loose-fitting pants, his skin distracting and still covered in Barry’s love bites from the other night. Len seemed to notice Barry’s attention on the fading bruises because he was soon winking. But then he just… left.

He opened the bedroom door, and he just walked through and down the hallway.

Barry just didn’t know how to process any of this. He would have thought that, since they hadn’t done anything last night, Len would have been all too eager to correct that this morning and jump Barry’s bones at the first chance he got.

But he didn’t.

Barry rolled onto his back and stared aimlessly up at the ceiling above. He’d been here so often lately that the slight imperfections in the plaster were as familiar to Barry as the back of his own hand. He’d spent so many nights and mornings staring up at this ceiling…

Was that why Len didn’t want to sleep with him?

Was he getting bored?

Perhaps they needed a change of scenery? They’d had sex in STAR Labs a couple of times already, but it was a big place, and there was surely somewhere or something in that building that Len wanted to fuck Barry over…

Right?

Though, Barry’s team was back again now, so that was an added dilemma. But, hey, the sneaking around and trying not to get caught could be fun! It had certainly added an additional thrill the first time they’d had sex, so why not now too?

Of course, the thought that Leonard was getting bored with him, that he would need to start keeping Len constantly on his toes to stop him from dropping Barry into the trash like a joint of meat past its prime… It was worrying.

But it also just didn’t feel right.

It felt like maybe Barry was misreading the situation. Because Len cared for Barry, he _did_ ; why else would he have acted that way last night? Why would he have volunteered to put himself on the line to help the Flash if Barry ever found himself in too deep again?

Why would he do that if their relationship meant nothing to him?

Barry frowned as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.

What else could make Len act this way? Was there _anything_ else that made sense?!

A few minutes passed before Barry sighed and stood up, not finding any answers in the ceiling but hoping he might find some in the shower.

Unfortunately, fifteen minutes later, and Barry was still left with so many questions and zero answers. So, he rinsed the suds from his body, watching them float away down the drain before turning the water off and exiting the shower. He dried himself and towelled down his hair – careful not to put too much speed behind that action, not wanting a repeat of the time his hair had accidentally caught fire – and dressed back into last night’s clothes before plodding down the stairs.

Len wasn’t in the living room, so Barry moved on into the kitchen. And there he was, standing in all his shirtless glory over the stove, his pants hanging low and loose on his hips and showing off his perfectly toned torso as well as the fading hickeys that littered it. _Christ_ , he was gorgeous, and the sight of him now only made Barry’s stomach fill with butterflies.

“Right on time,” Len said, smiling over at Barry before gesturing to a towering stack of pancakes sitting on a nearby plate. “Help yourself.”

Barry looked from the plate to Len, to the pan on the stove and the empty bowl of batter sitting on the counter beside him.

Then he looked back to Len again. “Are you… cooking me pancakes?”

“No, I’m robbing a bank,” Len drawled. “Can’t you tell?” His face was completely flat and humourless, but only for a moment before it split into a grin and Len turned back to the last pancake sizzling away on the stove. “I made too much batter and didn’t want it to go to waste.” That was a lie. Len was lying. Barry didn’t know when, exactly, he’d started to get a read on Leonard Snart but… he could see it all now in Len’s smile, his eyes, the way he carried himself. He was just bluffing.

That was… confusing.

With the way Len had treated his injuries last night… and then there had been the confession that he truly cared about Barry’s safety; cared enough to offer his help on Barry’s cases, to be the good guy. Not to forget the look in Len’s eyes last night as though Barry’s injuries were bringing him physical pain, nor the fact that they hadn’t done anything more exuberant than swapping gentle kisses in the last 24 hours…

And now, he was cooking Barry breakfast – doing the very thing he’d sworn since the beginning of their relationship that Barry would never see. He’d acted as though it was a rule set in stone, as though he would never break it with anyone who he was just sleeping with. As though making breakfast for Barry would mean that they were _together._

Barry picked up the freshly brewed coffee that Len had made him from the table, blowing on it gently to give himself a reason for his silence. He couldn’t exactly talk if he was trying to drink his coffee, could he?

Len flipped the last pancake and nodded to himself before dropping it onto the top of the pile and bringing the plate to the table. He took a seat opposite and so Barry sat down too, still so unsure of what he should do and how he should act.

He was behaving weird, he knew, and Len surely noticed that, but he was choosing not to bring it up. Just like Barry was choosing not to bring up the breakfast, even though he so desperately wanted to.

“After you,” Len said, motioning for Barry to dig into the stack of pancakes in front of them. He finally took that sip of coffee and placed his mug down, grabbing a couple of pancakes from the pile and smothering them in syrup.

Barry cut into them, taking his first bite and nodding.

“These are really good,” he enthused awkwardly, wishing he knew what else he could say. Len laughed.

“How can you tell underneath all that syrup?”

Barry shrugged. “I have a sweet tooth.” Which Len already knew. But what he didn’t know was that Barry overloaded himself with sugar in the morning specifically to make up for all of the energy he’d burnt through in his sleep, and to make sure he wouldn’t pass out on his morning run to work.

And the reason Len didn’t know that was because they had _never done this before!_

Len couldn’t know about how Barry had his breakfast because they’d never eaten together in the morning, and thinking about that now did nothing to ease Barry’s nerves.

He shoved another bite of pancake into his mouth to prevent himself from speaking right now.

Len frowned over at him, but he still chose not to mention Barry’s weird behaviour – which was certainly not doing Barry any good if he was hoping for a repeat of breakfast next time he slept over.

He tried to calm down, to act cool, to act like pretty much anyone _other_ than himself!

But then he remembered what Iris had told him yesterday, and what Cisco had said before that, both of them so sure that all Barry needed to do to get Leonard Snart was to just tell him the truth. To tell Len how he felt.

That was easier said than done.

“What’s wrong?” Len finally asked when he caught Barry staring at him for just a touch too long with whatever heart-wrenching look was probably etched on his face.

Barry tried for a convincing smile and shook his head. “Nothing.”

But if Barry could now tell when Len was lying, you could be sure that the reverse was also true. And it was.

Len knew that Barry was keeping something from him.

“You’re having second thoughts about this,” Leonard said simply, placing his fork down on his plate and reaching for his mug of coffee instead. To the casual onlooking, he might have seemed nonchalant about this, but that look in his eyes… There was pain there, plain and simple. Len felt hurt.

He leant back in his seat, and the movement placed himself directly into the rays of the morning sun spilling into the kitchen from the window. They covered his body, lighting him up like a beautiful glow, giving him an ethereal beauty which Barry just couldn’t resist. Feeling oddly courageous this morning, Barry shook his head and stood up, abandoning his plate of pancakes as he moved around the table to take the seat beside Len instead. Then he reached over, and he took Len’s hand in both of his own.

Leonard slowly lowered his coffee cup down to the table, watching him critically, cautiously, and Barry…

Barry wasn’t really sure where his strength was coming from all of a sudden, but he realised that he didn’t want to back down now. He didn’t want to slow things down and hide within the false-safely of his 20-step plan to woo Leonard Snart. He didn’t want to pretend that he was content with only sharing Len’s bed. He wanted more, and he yearned to tell his truth.

He longed for _more_.

“Do you want to go out sometime?” Barry finally blurted out, his stomach twisting into knots instantly. Len blinked at him, and so Barry added on: “I mean on a date, a _real_ date.” Because he didn’t want there to be any confusion about what he was asking.

If he was going to stick his neck out on the line, he was at least going to do it properly.

Leonard continued to stare Barry down, his sharp blue eyes drilling holes everywhere they fell, making Barry feel open and exposed.

But neither of them pulled away.

The question hung in the air between them for a moment, and a part of Barry wished he could take it back. But he wouldn’t. Even if he had the chance to redo this moment over, he wouldn’t take that questions off the table.

Because Barry hadn’t meant to fall in love with Leonard Snart, but he’d done that anyway, and he just didn’t want to hide his feelings anymore. This relationship had started out as just sex, but it had grown so far beyond that now, that the thought they could have a friends-with-benefits relationship without it evolving into something more was almost laughable.

Because Barry was in love, and he had been for some time now.

He just didn’t know if Len felt the same way.

Barry thought he did. _Hoped_ he did. But, even after all this time together, Len could still be such an enigma, a code so difficult to decipher that seemed to continuously change and adapt.

The truth was, Barry couldn’t be sure that he was taking away the right conclusion from their conversations together. Did Len like him back? Or was this all just wishful thinking on Barry’s part?

Perhaps…

His spiralling thoughts were cut off as Len pressed closer, looming into his personal space. His blue eyes were practically sparkling in this light, and it stole Barry’s breath from him. Barry wanted to look away, but he didn’t. He held Len’s gaze. He held it while Len lifted his hand to cup Barry’s jaw, running his thumb along Barry’s skin. Held it while Len leaned in closer and closer. Held it right up until the very last second when their lips met.

And then Barry’s eyes finally fluttered closed, the tension drained from his shoulders as he leant into Len’s hold, his mouth opening easily to the caress of Len’s tongue against his lips. He pressed forward, his hand coming up to wrap around Len’s shoulders, tugging him closer and closer still until he was almost falling off his seat and into Barry’s lap.

There was a familiarity about the kiss, of course, because they had been doing this for almost a month. But this morning, it felt different somehow. Maybe it was all in his mind but, today, their kiss tasted of love.

Barry didn’t want to let go, didn’t want to lose the sensation of Len’s lips against his own, gaining more and more urgency as the kiss continued. But as Len nearly fell off his chair again, they were forced to pull apart because they just couldn’t stop laughing. Len stayed impossibly close, though, his hand moving up to tangle itself inside Barry’s hair as their foreheads rested against one another, panting and breathing in the same oxygen. 

“Is that a yes?” Barry whispered as he eventually found his words, though it seemed an impossible task to raise his voice any louder.

“It’s a yes, Barry,” Len laughed and kissed him again. And, for a moment, all of Barry’s worries just melted away.

For a moment, it was just the two of them together, here and now, and nothing and nobody outside of this kitchen even existed.

The moment would eventually break, Barry knew. It had to.

The world didn’t just stop revolving for the two of them.

But that didn’t matter now because Barry knew that no matter what he faced, no matter what life threw at him, he wasn’t alone. He had his friends, his family, and – despite the odds – he had Leonard Snart too.

And, hell, if they’d managed to overcome all the barriers between them to find happiness in one another, Barry knew that they could achieve anything.

[FIN.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!  
> Honestly, this fic could have gone on for so much longer, and it very nearly did. But - like most of my works - it kind of already grew out of control (the original plan for this only really covered the first chapter ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ) and I didn't have the option to allow it to continue any further. I had planned on doing a little epilogue at the end, but none of them quite fit right so I ended up cutting the idea completely. I might turn one of them into a sequel, though, if you guys would be interested in that.
> 
> Anyway, a big thank you again to [Moonymistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonymistress/works) for putting up with me and my mad back-and-forth writing process... Remember to drop in and tell her how amazing her art is!


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